Katie the Lionhearted
by Olympian
Summary: Katie Bell is looking forward to her fourth year, but is far from prepared for what will happen. Strange mysteries abound, along with plenty of Quidditch action, as Katie tries to make it through, and possibly snag the bloke of her dreams.
1. Two Chocolate Frogs

The necessary (but hopefully humorous) evil: I'm only writing this once, so pay attention. I claim no rights to Hogwarts, Hogsmeade, Katie Bell, Alicia Spinnet, Angelina Johnson, Fred Weasley, George Weasley, Lee Jordan, Oliver Wood, Cedric Diggory or any of the other characters featured in this story, for that matter. They are the property of J. K. Rowling, Scholastic, Warner Brothers and whoever else put time or money into the Harry Potter saga. I did not write this for profit, but merely my own entertainment, hopefully with Ms. Rowling's blessings. Neither am I posting it for profit, but for the entertainment of others who, like myself, are not content with sitting on our arses for a few years until the next installment comes out. Furthermore, if you do manage to track me down to bring suit, I must warn you I have about as much money as Jo did when she first began writing about the Boy Who Lived. I also must excuse myself to all English readers out there. I am an American trying to sound English, and I'm sure it doesn't come across very convincingly, but feel free to make suggestions. No animals were harmed during the writing of this story. Thank you for your time.

This is dedicated to Luke, my soldier.

Katie the Lionhearted

Platform nine and three-quarters was crowded with a motley assortment of students, family and pets. A scarlet steam engine waited next to the platform, emanating smoke. Teenagers clumped together in little knots all down the train, laughing and talking excitedly with their friends. They were obviously old hats compared to the several dozen pale-faced eleven-year-olds that were looking apprehensively around, some clinging to their parents almost fearfully. Sqeaks, hisses, meows, ribbits, barks and hoots only added to the din.

"You'd better get aboard, dear," said a flaxen-haired mother to her eleven-year-old daughter with identically colored curls.

The girl grasped her mother in as tight a hug as she could while an older, but equally blond boy started hefting her trunk towards the train door. The girl reluctantly followed and boarded the train after her brother.

The two blond children made their way down the train's corridor a little way. The boy poked his head into a compartment and saw a brown-haired teenage girl.

"Sorry," he murmured, "Thought it was empty."

"Nope," the girl replied politely, "but I think the next one might be available."

"Thanks," the boy grunted.

Katie Bell watched him and his cute little sister disappear further down the corridor. She was glad she'd convinced her father to arrive extra early. Last year, she'd had to sit with some of her dorm mates instead of her two best friends.

"Katie!"

Speak of the devil... blond-haired Alicia Spinnet and tall, dark Angelina Johnson bounded into the compartment as the warning whistle sounded. Katie's screech owl, Smidgeon, hooted reproachfully at the loud noise.

"We were looking for you on the platform," explained Alicia as Katie stood up and they warmly embraced, "but then we figured you might've come on to save a compartment."

"Yeah," Angelina piped in as she finished stowing her and Alicia's trunks in the luggage rack, "I remember how last year wasn't exactly fun for you."

Katie shrugged. "I like Leanne and everything, but she's just not the same as you guys," she said, grinning at the two of them as they took seats opposite her.

"She might not be the same, but at least you'll have _one_ friend left when we've gone," joked Angelina.

Katie shot her a reproachful look, but grinned in spite of herself when she caught Angelina's eye. She really had missed her two best friends over the summer holidays.

"You know, I always forget you're a year younger than us," mused Alicia as she stroked her cat, Circe, who had jumped into her lap, "You're pretty mature for your year, but I suppose just missing the September first deadline will do that."

"By thirteen days," sighed Katie dolefully. "Talk about thirteen being an unlucky number."

"Ah, well," Angelina said, "At least you don't have to take your OWLs until next year."

"I'd forgot!" Katie exclaimed. "That means I'm going to see a lot less of you this year, then, aren't I?" she added gloomily.

"Not if Wood's got anything to say about it," replied Angelina with a hint of somberness in her voice. "Word is that he's quite keen on the Quidditch Cup this year."

"More than usual?" Katie joked.

"Well, it's his last year, isn't it?" asked Alicia sweetly.

"I suppose..."

As the Hogwarts Express slid away from platform nine and three-quarters, the three fell into chatter about the summer holidays. Alicia had gone to a family reunion in Wales for a week. Angelina had helped her uncle Seth, an avid breeder, take care of his many crups. Katie had nothing special to report. She had simply spent a month at home with her father. Just as she was saying this, however, the compartment door opened again.

"Fine ladies! It is I, George the Gorgeous! Come to save you from the ravages of boredom!" cried the freckled and flaming-haired George Weasley as he burst into the compartment and struck a pose.

"Always a pleasure, mademoiselle," added his identical twin, Fred, grasping Angelina's hand in his with great airs as George the Gorgeous started heaving his trunk onto the luggage rack.

"Oh, stop it," said Angelina, though slightly flushed.

"Oi! Give us a hand," came a voice from in back of the twins. They both turned to reveal a black boy with dreadlocks, Lee Jordan, the twins' best friend.

"Sorry, Lee, old chum," apologized Fred, still acting quite pompous. He bent to drag Lee's trunk inside and hoist it up, followed by his own. Lee took a seat next to Angelina, as Fred and George sat next to Katie.

"Cosy in here, isn't it?" commented Fred as he took the last available seat.

"Not really room to swing a kneazle, is there?" added George.

"Sure," Angelina answered offhandedly. "Guess who made prefect?"

"Kindly bestow upon us your wisdom, oh Angelina the Angelic," implored Fred.

"Seriously..." muttered Angelina huffily.

"Fine. Who?" Lee asked.

"Patricia Stimpson and Kenneth Towler." Angelina answered, glad that someone had finally asked her.

"God rest their souls," George said somberly.

"But Kenneth!" exclaimed Fred, apparently aghast.

"I thought he got into a bunch of trouble," said Katie, "I remember hearing he got caught with five fanged frisbees!"

"That was back in second year," said Lee, "He got a Howler from his 'rents saying they'd bring him home if he didn't shape up." He shrugged. "Guess it worked."

"Aw, Mum's sent us plenty of Howlers, hasn't she Fred?"

"Seven howlers in four years. I think we might hold a record."

"Don't you two ever take anything seriously?" inquired Alicia.

"How 'bout OWL year?" Angelina asked.

"Don't worry your pretty little head about us, Ange," replied Fred. "The way we see it, OWLs really aren't that important."

All three girls turned to stare at the twins. They had known Fred and George didn't care much for classroom work, but they never knew the twins would throw caution to the wind like this.

"But, what about your sixth and seventh years?" asked Alicia apprehensively. "You need OWLs to get into NEWT classes."

"Oh, we've got other plans..." George said casually, "but guess what we did over the summer?"

"Went to Egypt!" exclaimed Fred before anyone could say anything. And with that, the two launched into a colorful story about their family vacation to visit their oldest brother, Bill, in Egypt. Plenty of detail was given to their attempt to lock their older brother (and Head Boy) Percy in a pyramid.

As the group continued to talk, the scenery outside the window grew darker and wilder while the ominous clouds overhead thickened. People were running back and forth past their compartment.

At half-past twelve, the plump witch with the food cart arrived at the compartment door.

"Anything to eat, dears?" she asked.

The hungry teenagers jumped at the opportunity for sweets. Fred and George had sandwiches, but they still paid a few knuts for a handful of goodies. The rest got a mixture of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, Cauldron Cakes, Chocolate Frogs, Pumpkin Pasties, Licorice Wands and some pumpkin juice to drink. Katie quickly crammed a Cauldron Cake in her mouth; she had missed them horribly. Just moments after the food trolley had moved onto the next compartment, a burly seventh year opened the door.

"Oliver!" exclaimed Katie after hurriedly swallowing her Cauldron Cake.

"Before you start," said George just as Oliver had opened his mouth, "no talk about Quidditch."

Oliver was the Gryffindor Quidditch Captain, and best known for the obsessive nature with which he played the sport.

Oliver shut his mouth and shot him an indignant look. "I'd just wanted to ask how your summers were," he said in his light Scottish accent, sounding slightly miffed. Of course, it would be quite the coincidence for him to stumble into this particular compartment for that. Alicia, Angelina and Katie were the Gryffindor Chasers. The Weasley twins filled the two positions of Beaters, and Lee Jordan was the school's unofficial Quidditch commentator. No one, therefore, seemed to believe Oliver's supposed motive. As Oliver looked around at them all, Katie was briefly afraid that he would stalk out and slam the door behind him.

"Alright, come in," Fred relented, "You might need a shrinking solution, but we'll find room."

After some fidgeting, Oliver ended up sitting on the floor with his back against the wall and his legs stretching out towards the corridor.

"So, you're all getting back to Hogwarts in one piece I take it?" he asked.

"Did you ever loose faith in us, Ollie?" inquired Fred.

Oliver lifted an eyebrow. The Weasley twins were known far and wide for their trouble-making. It was always possible they had accidentally ignited a few of Dr. Filibuster's Fabulous Wet-Start, No-Heat Fireworks in the wrong place. Katie bit back a laugh.

"Well, we _did_ almost get hexed in that one crypt," George reminded his brother.

"Oh, yeah..."

"That's right!" said Oliver. "I remember, I saw you in the _Daily Prophet_!"

And with that, the twins retold their fantastic vacation all over again, with the rest of the group prompting them for the more exciting parts.

"What did you do over the summer?" Katie asked Oliver when the twins had finished.

"Give you one guess," Angelina joked before he could answer.

Oliver looked down and muttered bashfully, "Practice."

"Oliver, Oliver, Oliver..." Fred chidded him playfully, "Haven't we told you there's more to life than Quidditch?"

Oliver's ears turned pink, but he put on a brave face. "Like studdying?" he asked sharply.

"If you're referring to our upcoming OWLs, my dear boy, I'm afraid you'll be sorely disappointed in us," came George's dismissive reply.

Oliver snorted. "You say that now..."

"What are they like?" Alicia asked him suddenly. She looked nervous. Circe hissed as she jumped out of her mistress' lap, apparently having been roused from a pleasant nap.

"They're not that bad," he replied, looking at her earnestly, "Just don't put studying off until the last minute..."

The seven of them continued to talk until mid-afternoon, when the rolling hills outside became blurred from the newly-begun rain. Wood stood up, massaging his sore rear end. Katie winced as the sensation of pins and needles spread throughout her left shin, which had fallen asleep with some of Oliver's weight on it.

"I'd better get back to my compartment," he said. "I expect the five of you be prepared for the Quidditch season in one month. And Lee," he added, "please keep commentating. I can't imagine what it'd sound like with a Slytherin in the box."

"Right-o," said Lee with a nod of his head.

With a quick nod at the rest of them, Oliver left the compartment. The ride was uneventful as the train sped yet farther north. The windows turned a solid, shimmering gray, which gradually darkened until lanterns flickered into life all along the corridors and over the luggage racks. The rain hammered and the wind roared, but the six of them stayed cozy in their full compartment. Fred and George amused everyone by juggling five ink bottles between the two of them, until Fred missed one and it shattered on the floor.

Suddenly, the train began to slow, eventually coming to a stop with a jolt. At the same time, all the lamps went out and they were plunged into total darkness. A dull thud was followed by a loud yelp from Angelina. Smidgeon hooted in his cage, apparently having been woken by the loud noise. The twins and Lee hurried to place the trunk that had landed on top of Angelina back on the rack. Students peered out of their compartments and down the corridor to see what was going on. They shouldn't be at Hogwarts for another hour, and the lights that would have lit Hogsmeade station were nowhere to be seen. Lee left to find out if anyone had heard what was going on, as the others waited tensely in the compartment.

"I hope everything's alright," said Alicia.

"Should be," replied George, though he didn't seem too sure of himself.

Lee came back to the compartment, shaking his head. "Nothing," he said, "No one's got a ruddy clue."

Then, just as curiously as it had stopped, the Hogwarts Express lurched and began to move again.

"Maybe it was just engine troubles," said Angelina.

"Yeah, maybe," Katie replied, looking out the dark window for any hint of what could be going on as the train increased its speed.

Alicia suddenly shivered.

"Are you okay?" Lee asked.

"Yeah," replied Alicia shakily. "I just feel…"

"Cold," Fred finished for her. He had crossed his arms and was beginning to rub his upper arms.

"Me, too," said Angelina, looking down at her arms.

Katie looked down and pulled back her sleeve a little. Her forearm was covered in goose bumps. She pulled her sleeve down again and fought to keep her teeth from chattering as the temperature in the compartment rapidly dropped. She checked that the window was still closed securely as the dark and cold intensified. It was sealed shut, but the glass was beginning to show signs of frost. Katie started to panic. What could be going on?

Suddenly, the door of the compartment banged open and a younger boy with blond hair and a pointed face stumbled in. Draco Malfoy looked even paler than usual. His white features were drawn, not into their usual arrogant sneer, but in thinly veiled terror. He took one glance around the compartment, and finding it full of older Gryffindor students, quickly ran out again.

"St-stupid git," shuddered Fred "Didn't even b-bother to close the door." He managed a tense smile.

Then, from same direction whence Malfoy had appeared, something swept into view. It was tall, hooded and cloaked in layers of dark, molding cloth. A strange, rattling breath came from under the hood, as though it was trying to suck more than air out of the cramped space. Katie's head began to ache. She felt like she was being frozen from the inside out. Then, she heard a little girl crying. She saw her mother lying in a hospital bed, and a similar, horrible, rattling breath coming from her as she fought to hold onto life. Then, her father's face swam before her and he told her, "Your mother's dead, Katie. She's gone…" She heard the little girl's voice wail again as she next saw her mother's dead body lying in her coffin…

"Katie!" cried Angelina, shaking her hard by the shoulders.

The view of the Hogwarts Express, fully lit once again, quickly brought Katie back to present time as she snapped out of her personal nightmare, but something still didn't feel right. She bolted for the door, which was still open, and raced down the corridor. Not looking where she was going, Katie bumped into someone very tall and muscular, but she couldn't hold back any longer. Stiff-arming the solid body she had run into to keep them at bay, she doubled over and retched all over the carpeted floor.

The stranger kindly took the arm which had been used to push them out of the way, and supported Katie until she had finished. After she was sure nothing more was on its way, she slowly stood up, helped by the benevolent stranger.

"Thanks," Katie said as she gingerly righted herself.

She was horrified to find herself looking into the gray eyes of a tall and stunningly handsome sixth year. Cedric Diggory was smiling at her warmly. Katie felt herself go weak in the knees.

"No problem," he said casually. "I should actually be thanking you for getting me out of the way."

"Least I could do…" muttered Katie, looking down to hide her blush and trying her best not to sound like she had just been hypnotized.

Cedric pulled out his wand, waved it and said "_Evanesco_." The foul-smelling puddle vanished before their eyes, leaving the carpet as fresh as before. Katie blushed even deeper. He'd cleaned up her mess for her...

"Katie Bell, is it?" Cedric asked politely.

Katie's stomach at first did a summersault at the fact that he knew her name, then plummeted at the thought that he would probably now remember her forever as the girl who had almost vomited on him. "That's right," she answered grudgingly.

"Cedric," he said, extending his hand. She took it.

"You're—you're a real gentleman," Katie blurted out. She winced inwardly. What a stupid thing to say. She could have kicked herself.

Yet, once again, Cedric's impeccable manners shone through. He didn't seem wrong-footed at all, but merely smiled again (Katie thought she'd have to hold onto something soon to keep from falling over) and replied, "It's nice to meet you, too."

Katie smiled as best as she could. Her insides still didn't feel quite right.

"Was it those dementors?" he asked kindly.

Katie nodded her head. She didn't want to elaborate; the last thing she needed was more pity. Luckily, she didn't have to.

"Here," he said, pulling a Chocolate Frog out of the pocket of his robes (he'd already changed, unlike Katie). "Eat it. Dad told me chocolate's a good remedy after a run-in with dementors."

Katie looked at him uncertainly, but when he didn't withdraw his hand, she took the offered sweet and quietly thanked him. Cedric waved it off.

"So, you'll be playing Chaser again this year, I assume?" he asked.

"Oh, yeah, Quidditch," said Katie awkwardly. She looked at his robes and saw his Quidditch Captain badge. "Oh! You're Captain! Congratulations!"

Cedric beamed. "I've got plans to put together a tough side this year."

"You'd better," replied Katie, starting to become acclimated to his charm (and thankful that the conversation had careened well away from her puking incident), "because we're not going to hand the Cup to you."

"No, I expect not," he replied while chuckling at her spunky comeback. "Wood's probably spent the holidays planning your defense."

Now it was Katie's turn to laugh. "That's Oliver for you."

"Well, I'd better get back," he said politely, "but I look forward to playing you."

"Yeah, me too," Katie replied eagerly as Cedric started off down the corridor. He gave her a last smile and parting wave then turned and continued on. Katie had to tear her eyes off of him to go the other way to her compartment, where her friends sat, probably wondering what had happened and why it was taking her so long. Sure enough, Alicia stuck her head out into the corridor just as Katie arrived.

"I was just about to come looking for you," she said. "What took you so long?"

"Nothing," replied Katie a little too quickly.

"Oh, come off it," said Angelina "We've known you for three years. I think we can tell when you've been up to something."

"I think it's time to get changed," Lee interjected, "We're bound to get there soon."

Katie was glad for an excuse not to be the center of everyone's attention. There was great hustle and bustle as everyone clambered to get their school robes out of their trunks. Katie smiled and gingerly slipped Cedric's gift between some of her extra clothes. Once everyone had changed into the standard black robes and pointed hats, they sat down, and Katie pulled her own Chocolate Frogs out from the corner. She ripped the wrapper off one and bit into it. It felt as if her frozen insides were slowly thawing out. Finishing the Frog, Katie stared out the dark window to watch the approaching lights of Hogsmeade.

The train began slowing down once again, though this time at its scheduled destination. The lights of Hogmeade seemed to shine brighter and more welcoming than ever before. As the train came to a halt, Lee, Fred, George, Angelina, Alicia and Katie filed out into the corridor. Katie grabbed Smidge's cage and kept a tight hold on it until they were outside. It was freezing on the tiny platform; rain was driving down in icy sheets. Smidge clicked impatiently as Katie rummaged for her wand while shivering almost violently. When she finally managed to utter "_Alohomora_", he flew out into the night for the shelter of the castle owlry.

"Firs' years follow me!" came the booming voice of Hagrid, the gigantic gameskeeper from one end of the platform. Katie followed the rest of the crowd in the opposite direction and ran to catch up with her friends.

"Bit nippy, isn't it?" asked Alicia as she carried a quivering lump under her robes that Katie could only assume was Circe. Katie smiled. That had to be the biggest understatement she'd heard since they were last together. In truth, they were already close to drenched and the howling wind that drove the rain into their faces chilled them down to the bone.

They trudged up to a rough mud track, where at least a hundred horseless carriages awaited the students. Alicia, Angelina and Katie leapt into one and quickly closed the door on the storm. The carriage was musty, with bits of straw still clinging to the upholstery, but it was better than the dark tempest that raged outside.

They all took a minute to catch their breath, then Alicia asked, "So, what really happened?" Katie could just make out a grin on her face through the dark.

"Not much," lied Katie.

"Don't play coy with us, Kate," warned Angelina. "Or do you want me to tell Penelope Clearwater that you were the one who put leaping toadstools in her bed last spring?"

"Fine!" Katie said as the carriage began to trundle toward the magnificent wrought iron gates, flanked by stone columns topped with winged boars. "I met Cedric Diggory in the corridor and nearly tossed my cookies all over him. Happy?"

The two sat silent for a moment, then they shrieked with mirth.

"Are you _serious_?" cried Angelina.

Katie nodded.

"Well, it's better than I'd thought," said Alicia truthfully. "You looked awful after the dementor came."

"Yeah," Angelina chimed in, "It looked like you'd gone into a trance."

"Maybe I did," said Katie. She looked up at her friends. "I saw my mum," she blurted out. "I saw her lying there on the hospital bed, and then I remembered when Da told me she'd died when I wasn't there, and then I saw her in her coffin, and I could hear a girl—I think it was me—crying the whole time."

The two fifth years knew of Katie's mother's death, but they had never heard her talk about it as candidly as she just had. Even though Katie's confession was short on words, Alicia and Angelina could tell it had taken quite a bit of courage for her to tell them.

"Blimey," said Angelina quietly.

"And then I lost my lunch," Katie said anticlimactically. As with Cedric, she didn't want to discuss the matter in any detail. It would just bring her pity she didn't need.

"Right…" Alicia said, clearly catching on that Katie wanted a change of subject. "So, er, did anything else happen with Cedric?"

"Well," said Katie, glad her friends understood her. Then, she feelt her cheeks become hot, "he—he recognized me, then introduced himself--he was such a gentleman--"

"I knew it!" Alicia exclaimed. "Go on."

"Then...we started talking about Quidditch," Katie replied. She'd decided that his gift was her little secret.

"Oh," said Angelina, sounding a little disappointed.

Katie forced herself to ignore the sickly feeling in her stomach as they passed the dementors standing guard next to the gates.

"So, do you think you'll see him again?" asked Alicia.

"I hope so," Katie confided quietly. "I mean, he was really nice. I don't think he'd be into me. I mean, we only really met because I almost threw up on him, and I'm kinda young, but..." she trailed off.

"You're not that young," said Angelina. "Like we said earlier, you're as good as a fifth year to us."

"You think?" asked Katie hopefully. She couldn't stop herself from picturing Cedric presenting her with a large bouquet of flowers and asking her to be his girlfriend. Her stomach gave a hopeful leap as the carriage finished its accent of the long, sloping drive up to the castle and swayed to a halt. The three of them hastened out of the moldy-smelling carriage and towards the welcoming castle. The large oak front doors were open, golden light streaming out onto the grounds as scores of students hurried up the stone front steps to get out of the bitingly cold rain.

The cavernous entrance hall was a welcome sight, with its flaming torches and magnificent marble staircase leading to the upper floors. The door into the Great Hall stood open at the right, and the three friends followed the stream toward it.

"Katie!"

Katie spun around. She could've sworn someone with a deeper voice had just called her name.

"Katie!"

There it was again. Now she knew she wasn't hearing things. She stood on tip-toe in an attempt to see around some of the older students to find a face she recognized. Then, Oliver Wood came pushing through the crowd towards her.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

Katie stared at him confusedly. Of course she was fine. He'd just seen her this afternoon. Had someone slipped him a Babbling Beverage?

Her look had obviously told Oliver she thought he was crazy, because he said "No, I haven't been Confunded! The train! The dementors!" He was now gesturing wildly. "First I heard Harry collapsed and I now I hear tell that you went into a trance and ran off for a bit... The whole team's going to—"

"Oliver, I'm fine," interrupted Katie.

"Oh," said Oliver, looking as if he'd expected something more dramatic. "You're sure?" he asked as his brown eyes searched her.

"I'm sure," she responded with as much confidence as she could muster. Her insides were still a bit squirmy, but he didn't need to know that.

"Right. Well, just… here." He grasped her hand and put a Chocolate Frog into it. "It'll help. Now, I've got to find Harry."

And with no more ado, Oliver strode off in the opposite direction. Katie stared after him for a moment, utterly bewildered, but it was like swimming upstream as a sea of black-robed students flowed past her into the Great Hall. So, reluctantly, she allowed herself to be carried along with them.

The Great Hall was even larger than the one she had just left. Four long House tables stretched down the length of it, with Slytherin being closest, then Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and finally her own House of Gryffindor on the far side. Across the front of the hall stood the staff table, with most of the Professors already seated and chatting with their peers as they waited for the students to take their seats. Thousands of lit candles were floating in midair above the tables, their light glimmering on the faces of hundreds of students. The enchanted ceiling was dark and overcast, an identical replica of the sky visible through the tall, mullioned windows. Katie made her way across the Hall and squeezed onto the bench between Alicia and Angelina into the spot they had saved.

"Where were you?" asked Angelina, but before Katie could answer, the whole student body had become silent with anticipation.

Professor Flitwick, a very short man with a shock of white hair, had walked in, carrying a tattered old hat and a worn, three-legged stool. He set this at the front of the Hall, and placed the hat upon it as a line of drenched and fearful-looking eleven-year-olds queued up in the front of the Hall. The Sorting was about to begin.

After a tense minute, a wide rip near the brim of the hat opened and a surprisingly loud and clear voice filled the Great Hall as the Sorting Hat began its song. No one made a sound as it explained about the founding of the School, the four Houses, and its own duty of Sorting each student into the appropriate House. As its last line came to an end, everyone except the nervous first years applauded loudly. Then, Professor Flitwick once again took up his place at the front of the hall, standing shorter than even some of the first years. Pulling a scroll from his robes, he unrolled it and began to read the names off.

"Adams, Julia!" he squeaked.

A pretty girl with dark curls made her way towards the stool, almost slipping in a particularly large puddle. She flushed, but sat down on the stool and placed the hat upon her head. After a moment, the tear at the brim opened once again and called out "RAVENCLAW!" The appropriate table erupted in applause as a relieved Julia walked over and slid gratefully onto the Ravenclaw bench.

The Sorting continued, with each House cheering loudly as one more were added to their number. Finally, "Ziedler, Harold" became a Hufflepuff, and Flitwick removed the hat and stool from the Hall. Katie saw a skinny, dark haired boy enter at the back of the Hall. Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived and Gryffindor's Quidditch Seeker entered, followed closely by his best friends, gangly and red-haired Ron Weasley (younger brother of the twins) and bushy-haired Hermione Granger, popularly believed to be the smartest witch of her year, and maybe even the few above. Apparently, a few other people had seen them come in, as there was a smattering of whispers and pointing. Just then, however, Katie's attention returned to the front of the room as the headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, stood up to speak. Professor Dumbledore, though very old, always gave an impression of great energy. He had several feet of long silver hair and beard, half-moon spectacles, and an extremely crooked nose.

"Welcome!" said Dumbledore, the candlelight shimmering on his beard. "Welcome to another year at Hogwarts! I have a few things to say to you all, and as one of them is very serious, I think it best to get it out of the way before you become befuddled by our excellent feast..."

Dumbledore cleared his throat and continued, "As you will all be aware after their search of the Hogwarts Express, our school is presently playing host to some of the dementors of Azkaban, who are here on Ministry of Magic business."

He paused.

"They are stationed at every entrance to the grounds," Dumbledore continued, "and while they are with us, I must make it plain that nobody is to leave school without permission. Dementors are not to be fooled by tricks or disguises–or even Invisibility Cloaks," he added blandly, and Katie noticed Harry glance meaningfully at Ron. "It is not in the nature of a dementor to understand pleading or excuses. I therefore warn each and every one of you to give them no reason to harm you. I look to the prefects, and our new Head Boy and Girl, to make sure that no student runs afoul of the dementors," he said.

At this, Katie noticed Percy puffing out his chest and looking around impressively. Dumbledore paused again; he looked very seriously around the hall, and nobody moved or made a sound.

"On a happier note," he continued, "I am pleased to welcome two new teachers to our ranks this year.

"First, Professor Lupin, who has kindly consented to fill the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher."

Katie took a quick once-over of Professor Lupin. He looked far from impressive. He was actually rather shabby and careworn, if she was to be honest. She would have bet he had been quite strapping not long ago, but that something had made him age beyond his years. She caught Angelina's eye and saw Alicia raise a quizzical eyebrow. There was some scattered, rather unenthusiastic applause. Harry, Ron, Hermione and Neville Longbottom (another third year Gryffindor) clapped quite a bit harder than the rest.

"As to our second new appointment," Dumbledore continued as the lukewarm applause for Professor Lupin died away. "Well, I am sorry to tell you that Professor Kettleburn, our Care of Magical Creatures teacher, retired at the end of last year in order to enjoy more time with his remaining limbs. However, I am delighted to say that his place will be filled by none other than Rubeus Hagrid, who has agreed to take on this teaching job in addition to his gamekeeping duties."

The applause was quite a bit more heartfelt this time, being especially tumultuous at the Gryffindor table. Hagrid was ruby-red in the face, and had bowed his head to look down to his dustbin lid-sized hands. Katie could just make out his eyes crinkled in a smile beneath his dark, bushy brows. The applause at the Gryffindor table only died out when Dumbledore began to speak again.

"Well, I think that's everything of importance," said Dumbledore. "Let the feast begin!"

The golden plates and goblets before them filled suddenly with food and drink.

Katie, as her insides were still uneasy, allowed herself only a small helping of shepherd's pie.

Nevertheless, it was a delicious feast; the hall echoed with talk, laughter, and the clatter of knives and forks. At long last, the last morsels of pumpkin tart melted from the golden platters and Dumbledore gave the word that it was time for them all to go to bed. Alicia, Angelina—both half-dazed from the amount of food they had just consumed—and Katie followed the rest of the Gryffindors streaming up the marble staircase and, very tired now, along more corridors, up more staircases, to the hidden entrance to Gryffindor Tower, located on the castle's seventh floor. A large portrait of a fat lady in a gaudy pink silk dress asked them, "Password?"

"Coming through, coming through!" Percy called from behind the crowd. "The new password's 'Fortuna Major!'" At this, the portrait swung forward on hidden hinges, revealing a portrait hole through which the tired students clambered. They passed through the plush, red-and-gold decorated common room. Next, the boys and girls separated to go to their respective dormitories, calling sleepy goodnights to each other as they went. Angelina and Alicia bade farewell to Katie on the second landing of the girls' dormitory as they entered a room with a golden plaque on the door reading "Fifth Years." Katie continued farther up the spiral staircase, saying hello to Leanne, who had caught up with her. Finally, she reached the familiar, circular dormitory filled with four-poster beds. Katie saw her trunk resting at the foot of her usual, the second bed to the left. She collapsed onto it and felt the soft covers caress her face.

"Welcome back," she whispered to herself. "This is going to be a magical year."


	2. A Most Wonderful Birthday

Katie was flying around the Quidditch pitch on her new Nimbus Two Thousand Three, speeding down towards the raised goal hoops. Wood was cheering her on. She soared past Cedric, who was flying the other way. Quaffle clutched tight under her arm, she swerved to distract the Hufflepuff Keeper, and then tossed the red Quaffle through the center hoop. The crowd cheered. She slowly drifted to the ground, grinning from ear to ear. Marcus Flint ran across the field towards her and gave her a Chocolate Frog…

"Get up, get up, sleepyhead!"

Katie rolled over.

"Oh, come on," pleaded a girl's voice. "You don't want to be late for the first day of classes, do you?"

"I don't care," grumbled Katie sleepily.

"Fine," replied the voice. "_Wingardium Leviosa_!"

Katie felt herself leave her bed. Her eyes snapped open, and she saw her friend Leanne pointing her wand up at her. The charm made Katie gently rise up to her bed's canopy.

"Leanne!" Katie shouted indignantly.

"You didn't want to get up…" Leanne replied.

"Okay, okay! I'm up!" Katie responded impatiently.

Leanne flicked her wand down and Katie came crashing back to earth, landing not so lightly on her bed.

"Now that you've left dreamland," said Leanne. "It's already after eight."

Katie swore and hurriedly put on the robes from the previous night (they were most readily available). She felt a lump in one of the pockets. Reaching into it, she drew out a Chocolate Frog. At first, Katie thought it was the one that Cedric had given her, and her heart skipped a beat. Then she remembered her encounter with Oliver in the entrance hall. She shrugged, opened her trunk lid and chucked it haphazardly inside. Leanne waited, showing only the slightest signs of impatience. As Katie ran a brush through her brown hair then tied it back in a pony, Leanne sighed longingly.

"I wish I could be as low-maintenance as you are," she said.

"And deprive the male population of your flawlessly presented face everyday?" joked Katie, "No, it's best to leave it to us tomboys."

"You're not really a tomboy," protested Leanne as they started down the spiral staircase, "You just play Quidditch."

"The difference being…?"

"The difference being that blokes still fancy you!" said Leanne in hushed tones as they entered the common room.

Katie was taken slightly aback by this. She'd never noticed a lot of boys staring at her. Plenty shot glances towards Leanne. Lovely blond Alicia definitely got some looks. Angelina practically had her own fan club, though many seemed too scared to approach her. She shook her head. "I get sweaty and muddy and grimy when I play, why would they fancy someone like that?"

"There are some lads who like girls that can play like you," answered Leanne with a smirk. "I know about you and Cedric."

"Merlin's beard, news travels fast in this school!" Katie exclaimed.

"Not really, I just happened to spot you two talking on the train."

"We were talking about Quidditch!" Katie said defensively as she hopped a disappearing step, "It's not at all what you think."

Leanne gave her another smirk. "We'll see. You know, we're fourth years now. Old enough to start having boyfriends and such…" she let the sentence hang, to Katie's discomfort.

Katie shot her a dirty look. "Just don't go about planning my wedding, alright?" she pleaded.

Leanne shrugged, and they continued the rest of the way down to the Great Hall while discussing the two new Professors.

The enchanted ceiling was a clear, pale gray. Katie and Leanne crossed the hall to take seats at the Gryffindor table, which was loaded down with tureens of porridge, plates of kippers, mountains of toast and dishes of eggs and bacon. Shortly after Katie had tucked into a large bowl of porridge, there was a flutter of wings as hundreds of owls came streaming into the Great Hall, landing on tables to deliver magazines, letters, newspapers and packages of items left at home. Katie wasn't surprised to find that Smidgeon did not show up. He hadn't seemed too pleased with her after last night, and her father was so disorganized, it'd probably take him a week to discover that she'd forgotten anything. Leanne, on the other hand, had received a tin of homemade cookies from her mother as a start-of-term present.

As breakfast continued, the Heads of the four Houses began passing out schedules to the students.

"Well," said Katie as she looked over the schedule for that day, "Charms and History of Magic in the morning, then Transfiguration and Care of Magical Creatures in the afternoon. I guess it could've been worse."

"Double potions on Friday afternoons!" exclaimed Leanne. "I'm toast!"

"It'll be okay," comforted Katie. "You know I can help you through."

"I don't know how you can stand Potions," said another fourth year, Rose, from across the table.

"The potions are fine," Katie responded, "It's just the teacher that makes things bad. Oh, no, look at Monday! It's like they took my worst subjects and put them all together: History of Magic, Ancient Runes _and_ Herbology, all in the same day!"

Leanne checked her wristwatch. "We should go now," she said, "It'll take us a while to get to the Charms corridor." And with that, Katie, Leanne, Rose and the other fourth year Gryffindor girls set off for class.

Katie was quite glad that their first week only started with a Thursday because, by the end of double potions on Friday, she already had a backlog of homework, though Professor Lupin had been quite kind and spared them any. However, her load seemed trivial compared to the deluge of assignments Alicia and Angelina were receiving. Even Fred and George seemed a bit less enthusiastic than they had in years past. Apparently, OWL year would take its toll, no matter what they said or did to avoid it. Yet, Friday night, even studious Alicia could be found putting her textbooks and parchment away as they all enjoyed the sweets left over from the Hogwarts Express and a boisterous game of Exploding Snap.

Saturday morning, Katie woke to a shrill cry from one of her dorm mates. Sitting up, she saw Rhea, the pale, auburn-haired girl whose bed stood across the room from her own, rummaging madly through her trunk.

"What's going on?" Katie asked groggily.

"My bracelet!" cried Rhea. "My favourite tennis bracelet! It's gone!"

Katie collapsed back onto her pillow. "Oh, well, if that's all…"

"What if somebody nicked it?" asked Rhea, horrified.

"No one stole your bracelet, Rhea," Katie heard Rose say in a sleepy voice. "It probably just fell on the floor."

"It's not there! I already looked!" By the commotion she was making, Katie guessed that she had gone back to tearing through her trunk. "Oh, Mum's going to _kill_ me!"

The bracelet had not been found by breakfast, and Rhea was close to hysterics. Rose and Leanne were doing their best to comfort her, and they promised that the whole dorm would spend the morning looking for it. Katie agreed most grudgingly. She had put off her stack of homework the previous night in hopes of tackling it that morning. Unfortunately, her Gryffindor sense of chivalry prevailed and she left the breakfast table with a tired wave to Alicia and Angelina as she trooped off after her dorm mates.

They searched the dormitory, spiraling staircase leading to it, common room, corridors, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Charms and Potions classrooms but the bracelet was nowhere to be found. Rhea was in tears by the time lunch rolled around. Even though she wished she could have been doing homework, Katie couldn't help but feel quite sorry for her. The group trudged down to the Great Hall, Rose and Leanne with their arms around her, murmuring the most comforting words they could find. They ate their meal in glum silence while Rhea continued to sob quietly into her steak and kidney pie. Afterwards, they returned to Gryffindor tower, where Katie finally pulled out her textbooks and resigned herself to studying.

Sunday was little better. Rhea was still puffy-eyed from the day before, so Katie made a point to dress and get to breakfast quickly. Alicia and Angelina were both a bit dazed from all the studying they had done the day before, and it was all Katie could do just to persuade them to take a walk around the lake for some fresh air. That evening, she ended up chatting a bit with Oliver so as not to distract her fifth year friends. Katie had to admit that this was not a very good indicator for the rest of the year.

The following week was brutal. On Monday, Katie was assigned a five-page translation before the next Ancient Runes class on Wednesday. Leanne wasn't too much happier with Trelawney (Leanne took Divination instead), but at least she was not brutally stabbing her carrots at lunch. Then, that afternoon, the Flutterby Bush Katie was supposed to be pruning in Herbology came out looking more like a bonsai tree than anything else. Professor Sprout frowned at her as she apologized again and again for cutting off far too much. That night, she got as far into the runes translation as she could stand, before switching to the foot-long essay Professor Binns had assigned. At eleven-thirty, she nearly fell asleep with her head in _A History of Magic_ by Bathilda Bagshott, and decided to turn in. Tuesday was a little easier, as it consisted of two of her best subjects (double Defense Against the Dark Arts and Charms) then Transfiguration. Wednesday was long and tiring with Transfiguration and Potions followed by Herbology (she was very careful not to take too much off this time) and Ancient Runes, where Katie received a disapproving glare from the Professor when she handed in an incomplete translation. That night, it was Astronomy at the top of the castle's tallest tower. Thursday dragged on, and Katie woke Friday morning very glad to have only her top subjects that day—Defense Against the Dark Arts, Charms and, finally, Potions in the afternoon. As their double Potions cleared up, with Snape frowning at her thorough essay on antidotes, Katie felt an immense wave of relief wash over her. The first full week of classes was over. Katie was finding it harder than ever to study night after night. She may not have visited Egypt, but her two-and-a-half month break from school work of any kind had been more than enough to break her work ethic from the year before. Alicia and Angelina seemed to be suffering even worse than she. In fact, they had barely spoken since Sunday. For not the first time, Katie actually wished that she was in their year, just so they could spend more time together. Leanne was nice, but Rhea was still spouting conspiracy theories about her vanished bracelet ad nauseam.

Katie finished Friday dinner rather quickly, then headed off to the library alone, just to get some quiet time. She strode randomly through the shelves, looking here and there at a rune dictionary or a guide to easy jinxes. She stood there, staring at the jinx guide for a while, her thoughts a buzzing mixture of Weasley twins and pranks played with Alicia and Angelina and trips to the hospital wing. After half an hour or so, she could begin to hear herself think again. Sighing at the fact the she would probably be studying again tonight, she started to make her way back up to the entrance to Gryffindor Tower. Walking dazedly along the fifth-level corridor with the statue of Boris the Bewildered, she didn't notice she wasn't alone until...

"Katie!"

She spun around and was surprised for the second time that year to be gazing at the handsome features of Cedric Diggory.

"Hi!" she said brightly. It felt like all the pieces of Flutterby Bush she had trimmed off this week were now sprouting in her stomach.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

"Just coming back from the library," she said, "Lots of homework..."

"Tell me about it," he said with one of his melting smiles. Katie tried not to grin back _too_ hugely.

"So, um, what are _you_ doing here?" she inquired curiously. "I thought the Hufflepuff dormitories were down in the basement."

"They are," said Cedric shiftily.

"Then..." she let the sentence hang.

Cedric scuffed his foot along the floor, looking somewhat guilty. "I shouldn't be telling you this..."

"Oh, go on," pleaded Katie, "I love a good secret."

"Promise you won't tell?" he asked anxiously.

"Why would I?" asked Katie innocently, while grinning alarmingly like the Weasley twins.

"Just promise me," pleaded Cedric.+

"Alright, I promise."

"The Prefect's Bathroom is right up here and I was coming up for a wash."

"Oh," said Katie, slightly disappointed. She had expected something a little more dramatic. "Well, it's really cool that you get your own bathroom."

"Yeah, it's really nice," he said absentmindedly, "White marble and--"

"What!" Katie exclaimed. "That has to be great!" This bathroom sounded more like one that belonged in a mansion than a thousand-year-old castle.

Cedric considered her for a second then asked, "Do you, um, want to see it?"

"Sure!" Katie practically jumped with excitement. She could hardly believe that she had come across Cedric again, first of all, and second, that he was taking her into a secret room... Her stomach did another huge summersault with joy.

"Follow me," he said. They continued four doors down before Cedric stopped. "Cover your ears," he said.

Katie obeyed, to a certain extent. Unfortunately, Cedric whispered the password quietly enough that she couldn't catch it. The door swung open to reveal the most beautiful bathroom Katie had ever seen. It was softly lit by a splendid, candle-filled chandelier, and everything was made of white marble, including what looked like an empty, rectangular swimming pool sunk into the middle of the floor. About a hundred golden taps stood all around the pool's edges, each with a differently colored jewel set into its handle. A diving board extended its way out into the large basin as well. Long white linen curtains hung at the windows; a large pile of fluffy white towels sat in a corner, and there was a single golden-framed painting on the wall of a mermaid, who swam lazily out of her frame as Katie watched.

"Wow," she breathed, "It's gorgeous..."

"Yeah," said Cedric, coming up behind her. Katie looked at him sideways. Her heart was thumping at about twice the rate it should have been. Could he be thinking what she hoped? She pretended to gaze around the bathroom more, but kept her attention on Cedric out of the corner of her eye, reveling in the feeling of being close to him. Any minute now, one of them had to make a move…

Cedric cleared his throat. Katie practically jumped. This was it!

"I, um...need to take a bath now."

"Oh, right," said Katie, flushing. "Well... thanks for showing me," she said meekly.

"No problem," he responded. "I assume you can let yourself out?"

"Yeah," she said, now determined to show as little of her embarrassment and disappointment as possible. "I'll see you."

She turned around and strode as purposefully as she could towards the door. Every fiber in her body wanted to turn on a dime, run into Cedric's arms and tell him that she thought he was the best bloke in the whole school. Yet, somehow, she managed to keep herself contained. She gave him a quick parting wave at the door. He smiled and waved back, she then forced herself to pull the hefty door shut.

It could have gone better, but Katie still spent the whole rest of the trip to Gryffindor Tower daydreaming about Cedric, and what she wished had happened in the Prefect's Bathroom.

When she reached the Gryffindor common room, she decided she would go straight to bed. There was no way she could focus on homework now. Not with her mind on Cedric like this. Better to get to bed early and deal with it in the morning. With that, she waved to her friends, explained that she was drop-dead tired, and climbed the winding stairs to her dormitory.

The next day, Katie lazily dressed and headed down to breakfast, taking a seat next to Alicia.

"Finally!" Alicia exclaimed, "We've been waiting all week to see you!"

"Yeah, well it seems like you've both got books for heads these days," grumbled Katie, "Are OWLs really that bad?"

"I've heard it's just a start-of-term thing," said Angelina. "Lots and lots of review to make sure everyone's up to snuff before they start teaching you the more complex stuff that'll actually be on the examinations."

"I hope it's just a start of term thing," Katie said dejectedly. "I miss you guys. Rhea's been a basket case for a week now."

"Was it that bracelet thing you'd mentioned?" asked Alicia as she spread marmalade on her toast.

"Yeah. She reckons someone's stolen it," replied Katie. "I don't think so, but it hasn't turned up yet, so I'm stumped. I've never heard of stuff just disappearing before."

Angelina shrugged. "If someone stole it, it'd have to be a girl 'cause boys can't get up that staircase. But I can't think of anyone who would."

"Anyway," said Alicia completely redirecting the conversation, "anything else going on with Cedric?"

Katie nearly choked on her kipper. Alicia clapped her hard on the back. Katie looked up, her face turning red.

"Should I take that blush to mean 'yes' or that you've still got something in your windpipe?" asked Angelina. Katie didn't like the devilish glint in her eyes.

"Well, um…" she started, clapping her hand to her chest.

"So something _did_ happen!" exclaimed Alicia.

Katie shook her head. "There's just no hiding it from you guys, is there?"

"Nope," said Angelina as if it was obvious.

"Actually, I just randomly guessed," Alicia told her, "but I remember I really started noticing the lads last year."

"But Katie's almost as old as us," Angelina corrected her.

"Does that mean I'm behind the pack?" Katie asked.

"Don't worry about it," Alicia assured her. "Your maturity makes up for it."

"Right…" Katie drawled.

"You know," said Angelina, "I'm almost surprised you don't fancy a seventh year instead. You could probably keep up with them, as far as maturity goes."

Katie coughed. The only seventh years she was very familiar with were Quidditch-obsessed Oliver Wood, and self-obsessed Percy Weasley. Maybe there was something about their year that made them all fixated on something. Katie had yet to have a boyfriend, but she was sure that she would prefer someone who could give her at least some of his attention.

"Anyway," said Alicia, steering the conversation back to where it had started, "what happened with Cedric?"

Katie shot her a reluctant look. She had hoped their tangent would keep going so she wouldn't have to disclose about her trip to the Prefect's Bathroom. Now that the attention was back on the subject, however, she knew she couldn't weasel her way out. She had tried something similar her second year, to disastrous results: specifically, her on the floor with both older girls on top, tickling her until she had relented. So, she told them about meeting Cedric and him showing her the beautiful marble bathroom and, most dejectedly, how nothing had come of it.

"That coward!" snapped Angelina when Katie had finished.

"Ange…" Alicia started

"What? He didn't do anything, did he? Even though they had a perfect opportunity to—"

"Angie, we can't be sure of anything."

"But he—"

"—is taking things slow, yes. But we don't know how interested he is. Maybe he's just feeling her out."

"Why does he need to 'feel her out?'" Angelina demanded. "Katie's the best lass in her year!"

"And you're not biased at all," Alicia said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Well, she is!"

"You guys," Katie interrupted, "You're treating me like your little sister again."

"Sorry," they apologized in unison.

"Listen, all I'm trying to say is that Cedric needs to make a move," announced Angelina.

"And I'm saying that there's probably more going on than you realize," replied Alicia, "He may just be a really nice guy or he may be getting over his last girlfriend and doesn't want to rush into things"

"Or, we could just state the obvious, and say he's being really, really, ridiculously nice to her, and that he probably fancies her and that he just squandered a perfect opportunity to talk to her alone!"

"Ange," sighed Alicia, "don't you see this is why boys are scared of you? You rush into things like this, things that have way more consequences—"

"I still say he's a coward."

"And I still say it's only the second week of term."

There was a little, miffed pause as the two of them gave each other a dirty look. Katie let them have their moment as she finished off a strip of bacon. Then, as usual, the two agreed to disagree and went back to their breakfasts. Katie thought she probably could have done without this analysis of her love life, but decided it was best just to enjoy being back with her best friends.

Most of the weekend was again spent doing homework, but Fred and George were making a deliberate effort to make it as enjoyable as possible by cracking jokes and bringing food up from the kitchens. In return, they practically got to copy Alicia's work. Katie reaped the benefits of being next to four people who had already been taught most of the topics she was going through.

By Sunday lunch, they all felt a little addled, though accomplished, and decided to bring their books outside to enjoy one of the last bright and clear fall weekends. Katie, being a year below, finished off her homework with an essay on Erklings for Lupin in the early afternoon. She lay there with her friends for a while, basking in the autumn sun, but soon became restless. She gathered up her things, said goodbye to the group, and headed back to the castle in search of something to do.

Dumping her books on her bed, Katie looked around for some inspiration. Her moving figurine of Whitby, the dashingly handsome Puddlemere United captain, gave her an idea. She took off, back down through the castle and outside. Eventually, she came to the western part of the castle grounds, where the Quidditch stands and six tall goal hoops rose from the earth. She jogged over to the broom shed and retrieved her Cleansweep Seven. She would have liked a faster model—she had always envied Harry his Nimbus Two Thousand—but as the old Cleansweep hadn't failed her yet, she felt a pang of guilt every time she picked up _Which Broomstick_.

Carrying her broom out onto the pitch, Katie imagined Madam Hooch shouting "Mount your brooms!" She obeyed, as if Madam Hooch was really there, then imagined her high-pitched whistle ringing in her ears as she kicked off with as much power as she could muster. The autumn air felt wonderful against her face as she accelerated upwards. The next moment, she twitched the handle to the right and arced in the same direction. She practiced all sorts of maneuvers: swerves, dives, roundabouts and the tightest corners she could manage.

After a while, she heard someone with a deep voice and Scottish accent call her name, and turned to see Oliver Wood coming up behind her on his Comet 260.

"I see you haven't forgotten too much over the summer," she said cheekily, "but let me see your shimmy."

Katie smiled and obliged. She flew directly at Oliver for ten meters, then zigzagged back and forth as quickly as she could, before passing right by his left ear as he remained stationary.

"Not too bad," said Oliver as she arced around to face him again. "I can tell your broom is starting to get a little list, but you need to keep your elbows tucked in. Try again."

Katie was not exactly sure she appreciated Oliver interrupting her free-fly time to coach her, but she knew it would make her a better player if she got an early start. Thus, she once again flew at him, zigzagged, and quickly swerved around at the last minute.

"Better with the elbows this time," Wood called, "but you were too far above your broom, couldn't corner as fast. Once more."

Katie sighed, turned around and repeated the maneuver again. This time, she concentrated hard on every single part of her body, to make sure they were in the correct position.

"Good, good," said Oliver. "Get that in your muscle memory and you'll be able to skirt around a majority of players. Now, how's your side roll?"

The two of them spent the rest of the afternoon on their unofficial Quidditch practice. Half-way through, Oliver took out a Quaffle, the scarlet-colored ball that Chasers used to score. He took up his post as Keeper at one end of the pitch, hovering in front of the goal hoops as Katie flew at him, using some of the maneuvers they had just practiced in an attempt to score. She only got it passed him once in twenty minutes.

"It's your eyes, Katie!" Oliver called when she shrieked with aggravation after he saved a particularly hard-flung pass. "You need to fake with your eyes, too! You have to take your eyes off the hoop for a second. Sell me on that other hoop!"

"I'll sell your mother on that hoop," Katie grumbled back.

Oliver looked at her in an elder-brotherly way, then at the sun getting low in the sky.

"Blimey!" he exclaimed "It's already dinner!"

They both pointed their broom handles at the ground, quickly descending. Both pulled up in unison at the last second and landed with practiced grace on the firm ground once again. Katie wobbled a little as she dismounted. Oliver grabbed her arm with a firm hand to steady her

"Easy, now," he said. "I'll bet you haven't been on a broom in a while."

Katie shook her head. "I practiced every chance I got this summer," she admitted while suppressing a flush. She didn't want Oliver to know that she had dreamed about Quidditch over the summer holidays almost as much as he had. It was one of the things that kept her going through school—one of the few things she really excelled in, other than potions—and her way of letting out stress and suppressed emotions.

"Now, why would a pretty girl like you do something like that?" Wood asked with a smile as he let go of her, bringing her back to the present.

Katie shrugged. "Just nutters, I guess."

Oliver's grin grew even wider and he started off towards the broom shed. "We'll make a star of you yet, Bell."

Katie stared at his back for a second and then ran to catch up with him. "I thought I already was a star!" she joked.

"Here," said Oliver, suddenly serious. He gave her a sidelong glance, as if sizing her up. She looked as squarely back at him as she could. "You're a star _here_. But there's bigger things out there… It's always been my dream to play Quidditch professionally." He admitted quietly.

"Of course it has. You didn't think we were all too thick to notice, did you?" Katie asked playfully.

"But there might be scouts coming this year."

"You'll wow the heck out of them," said Katie confidently.

"But what if I don't? What if I'm not good enough?" Oliver asked, his voice remaining quieter than usual. "I don't know what I'd do otherwise."

Katie looked at him worriedly. He didn't sound at all like the Quidditch maniac she was used to. He wasn't pumped for the game, or shouting corrections at practice. He was talking to her like a sister, opening up to her. She wasn't entirely sure how she felt about it.

"It's going to be okay."

It was the only thing she could think of to say at the moment. The fact of the matter was that she was so wrong-footed by this unexpected glimpse into the "real" Oliver Wood that she was temporarily struck dumb. Instead, she placed what she hoped was a comforting hand on his shoulder as they reached the broom shed. As he pulled away, she had an idea of what to say.

"Just you wait," she said as she handed him her Cleansweep to put away. "We're going to win this Quidditch Cup, and with style!"

The shadow of a smile tugged at the corners of Oliver's lips and he looked at her gratefully. "Promise?" he asked playfully.

"Cross my heart," Katie replied, doing the associated motion.

"Off we go, then!" said Oliver, striding off to the castle with his normal vigor. "Wouldn't want to miss a meal after a training session!"

Katie snorted as she fell into step beside him. "Right. Like we'll ever go hungry with Fred and George around."

Angelina raised an eyebrow as Katie sat next to her at dinner. Oliver continued along the table and sat with the other seventh years.

"And where were you, young missy?" Angelina asked.

"The pitch," Katie replied offhandedly while pouring herself a goblet of pumpkin juice.

"Anything we should be sorry to have missed?" inquired Alicia.

"Not really. We just worked on some maneuvers. Then he got all worried about scouts coming this year."

"'Course he's worried," said Fred from across the table. "Practically has kittens before every game."

"Mental," muttered George around some roast beef while shaking his head sadly, "Absolutely nutters."

Katie kept to herself as she chewed thoughtfully on her pasty. Now that she looked back on it, she was rather pleased that she had been able to see a different side of Wood, even if it hadn't been welcome at the time. She supposed she had always known he had to be more than the two-dimensional front he put up at practices and games, but it was always good to have a true reality check on these matters. That evening, she hung out with Alicia, Fred, Angelina and George in the warm common room, talking and laughing. When she began to tire, she stood up and bade her friends goodnight and hurried up to her dorm, hoping that she had only imagined the furtive glance from Oliver.

On Tuesday morning, Katie awoke to a resounding chorus of "Happy Birthday" sung by all her dorm mates, Angelina and Alicia. She grinned widely at them as they finished her song, and thanked the two older girls breathlessly as they clasped her into a tight, three-person hug. Alicia and Angelina stuck around as Katie descended upon the small pile of presents at the foot of her bed. She got a beautiful jade-decorated penknife and a bottle of emerald-colored ink from Leanne (Katie's favourite colour was green). The Weasley twins gave her a pocket sneakoscope and chunks of Honeyduke's creamy homemade nougat. Once again, they amazed her at their ability to pull food seemingly out of nowhere. She gave Angelina a huge hug after unwrapping her gift: a new pair of Quidditch gloves, which she desperately needed as her old ones were sporting gaping holes. She received two books from Alicia: _Herbology Made Easy_ and _The Handbook of Do-It-Yourself Broom Care_. There was also a picture of the whole Gryffindor Quidditch team, signed by all members in shining, silvery ink. Katie thought she could remember a small, mousy-haired boy taking the picture the previous year. Creepey, was that the name? She shook her head. At the very bottom sat a small package, wrapped so dreadfully that Katie was sure it had to be from her father. She picked it up and tore open the wrapping to reveal a dusty, velvet-covered box. Angelina and Alicia leaned in closer to get a better look. Katie gingerly opened it to reveal a folded and filthy piece of paper. She removed the paper and unfolded it to find a sloppily scrawled note from her father.

_Katie,_

_This was your mother's. She'd said she wanted to give it to you when you were older. You've grown into a beautiful young woman now and I think you should have it. I'm proud of you._

_Love, _

_Dad_

Katie handed the note to her friends for them to read, then looked down to the velvet box in her lap. Inside was coiled a beautiful silver chain with a small, silver locket. She slowly reached a hand down to pick it up. It was skillfully made, that much she could tell, for though the chain was of reasonable thickness, it felt light as a feather. She was also surprised to find not a piece of it was tarnished, though there was a dust-free outline in the box where the necklace had lain. Next, she examined the small locket. She tried to open it, but it remained steadfastly shut. She tried prying it open with a fingernail, but to no avail.

"Give it here," said Angelina. Katie handed it over reluctantly as Angelina pulled out her wand. She tapped the locket, saying "_Alohomora_."

Nothing happened. Angelina tried prying it open, but the locket remained as tightly closed as ever.

"Curious," Alicia said as Katie took the necklace back. "Well, let's at least see you put it on."

"I don't know," said Angelina. "I don't like the way that locket's behaving."

"It's her mother's," responded Alicia shortly, "Do you think her mother would leave her something that was harmful?"

Angelina looked offended, but didn't say anything. Katie slowly brought the necklace around her neck and clasped it.

"Wow," said Alicia, "It looks really good on you."

"You might even say perfect," said Angelina. "There's some strange magic in that thing."

Katie, who had remained silent, stood up and found the mirror on her bedside table.

"It's quite becoming of you, darling," the mirror said in a raspy voice. "I do wish you would wear jewelry more often. You're a very pretty girl…"

"Oh, shut it," said Katie as she stared at her reflection. She had to admit, she _loved_ this necklace, even though she had never been one for jewelry.

"Well, we'd better get a move on," said Angelina. "Breakfast's already started."

"'Kay," said Katie, putting the mirror down.

She quickly slipped out of her pajamas and into her school robes, tucking the necklace under her collar. Grabbing her bag, she hurried down the spiraling stairs after her friends. Whether it was her birthday or the gift from her mother, Katie couldn't say. But she felt as if there were wings on her feet that day. She was lighthearted all through double Defense Against the Dark Arts (in which they covered lobalugs). She sailed through color-change charms, and even made quite a bit of progress turning her hedgehog into a pin cushion in Transfiguration, a class in which she usually struggled.

"I wonder if there's some sort of charm to bring luck," she mused as she ate a very hearty dinner. Angelina, who had not been having a very good day, scowled at her and she desisted.

That night in the common room, she spent as much time on her homework as she did fiddling with her new necklace. Now that she was done with classes, her mind wandered back to the stubborn locket, wondering why it wouldn't open. She knew there were locking spells that resisted _Alohomora_, but she couldn't remember—if she'd ever really known—what they were.

After Fred and George gave her a cupcake that exploded when she blew out the single candle, she had a good laugh and decided to turn in for the night. Bidding everyone farewell, she headed up to her dormitory, and slipped into her pajamas and climbed into bed. It had been a good birthday, except that she hadn't seen Cedric other than across the Great Hall. Maybe it was better that way. The last thing she needed today was another in-depth analysis of her love life. Katie was surprised how much Alicia and Angelina could talk about it. If it hadn't been for them, she would've thought all her experience with love could be summed up in a single word: nonexistent. But now she was fifteen and old enough to get serious about boys. Alicia was right, she had started noticing them more this year. A few times in class, she had caught herself gazing over at Ethan, probably the most attractive fourth year Gryffindor. Of course, she had eyes mainly for Cedric. There was just no comparing to him; his grey eyes, dark hair, exquisite features, not to mention his exemplification of Hufflepuff gentlemanliness made him the ideal dreamboat, at least in Katie's opinion. Plus, he was a Quidditch player, so they'd have something to talk about for hours.

Lying there as the room darkened, Katie was surprised to find her bed still partly illuminated. Sitting up, the dim gleam followed her. She looked down at her chest. She could just make out a pale light coming from around her throat. She groped on her bedside table for her mirror. Finally grasping the handle, she slowly brought it in front of her and stared down into it, absolutely astonished. Glowing, ever so faintly, around her neck was the silver chain and locket.

The mirror spoke to her once again in its raspy voice. "Quite a gift you've got there."


	3. Quick Tempers and Quidditch Speeches

Though Katie refused to take the necklace off, she was nonetheless perturbed by both the magically sealed locket and the strange glowing light. Whenever her mind wandered, she would absent-mindedly pull the chain from beneath her robes and fiddle with it between her fingers.

"Are you sure that's such a smart idea?" Angelina asked later that week, "I mean, there's obviously some weird magic in that thing. Do you really want to keep wearing it?"

"Well, it's not exactly cursed," said Alicia, "I mean, she hasn't dropped dead yet. Have you felt any different since you put it on, Katie?"

"I've felt happier," Katie replied. "But that's probably because I just got something of my mum's," she added hastily as both girls looked at her suspiciously.

"Well, as long as there aren't any negative side-affects..." said Alicia cautiously.

"I'll be careful," Katie assured her. "I promise."

Angelina still looked skeptical, but the three of them decided to let it be until Katie had something more to report.

In the meantime, they pressed on with classes. Defense Against the Dark Arts was quickly becoming something Katie avidly looked forward to. Not only was she pretty good at it, Lupin was an excellent teacher. He was very knowledgeable and introduced them to all sorts of tricky creatures, often finding live examples after they had studied the beast in theory and learned about the proper spells to use against them. She soon forgave him his shabby looks out of respect for his skill as a wizard. Some of the more feminine girls--those who'd had their eyes on the lads for a while already--were even beginning to _fancy_ him. Not as much as Lockhart the year before, of course, but that had only been because Lockhart was a pretty boy. Katie had detested Lockhart's sleazy manor from day one. Lupin, on the other hand, seemed to be the most genuine of men. And, as she had predicted at the start of year feast, was quite captivating except for the premature grey hair and fine lines that creased his face. She wondered what could have made such a handsome man look so frail, but decided there were things in the magical world that she would probably not care to know about. Leanne, on the other hand, couldn't seem to stop thinking about him.

"I mean, I just feel so bad for him," she said at dinner on Friday. "He's so good-looking, but he seems so alone. If I was older--"

"You'd marry him," interrupted Katie impatiently. "Yes, we know, but you'd probably have to fight off half of the fifth, sixth and seventh year girls while you were at it."

Leanne looked at her huffily. "And you won't have to fight them all off when you try to get to Cedric?" she shot back.

"At least he's more my age," retorted Katie, though she could feel her ears turn pink.

The truth was, every time she tried to talk to him, even just briefly in the halls, she got the dirtiest looks from all the prettiest girls in the school, in between them batting their eyelashes at Cedric, of course. Katie had decided she had to plan her move carefully. If only she got another chance like in the Prefect's Bathroom! She wouldn't have to jump on him, just talk to him. That was really all she wanted at the moment. So, the next day, she headed to the library in hopes of getting a chance to have a few words.

When Katie entered the huge, silent room, she was disappointed to find Cedric wasn't there. With a sigh, she sat down at a table near the front, in order to keep an eye on the door, and set herself to her Transfiguration homework. Every so often, the doors would open and Katie would look up, only to be disappointed as giggling girls or surly lads entered in search of a book or quiet corner. She had finished with Transfiguration as well as half a drawing of one of Saturn's moons for Astronomy when she heard the large doors opening once again. Looking up, she fought the urge to break into a huge grin as Cedric stepped inside. His eyes caught hers and she allowed herself a small smile and a wave. To her utter delight, Cedric made his way over to her table, placing down his bag in the chair opposite her.

"I'll be back," he said under his breath, then set off for the Potions section.

Katie could hardly believe her luck. She tried to ignore the jealous stares of other girls coming at her from every angle, bowing her head to her parchment in an attempt to hide her smug smile.

Cedric returned a few minutes later, carrying a very ancient volume titled _Moste Potente Potions_. He hefted it onto the table with a rather loud thump. Madam Pince caught his eye and gave him a withering look. She was as protective of the Hogwarts books as if they were her very own children. Katie personally thought she might get along rather well with the castle's caretaker, Argus Filch, as both sought to give out punishments as harsh as it was within their power to make them. She smiled to herself at the thought of that ridiculous pairing.

"Things going alright?" Cedric asked quietly as he opened _Moste Potente Potions_.

Katie nodded. "Are you holding tryouts soon?" she inquired in the same low tones.

"Next week," confirmed Cedric. "Don't tell Wood this, but he's being a real difficult, signing out the pitch for days at a time."

"Are you really surprised? I'm floored to know he's still sleeping and eating," she responded.

"You're worried about him?" Cedric asked, looking up at her with those beautiful grey eyes of his. Katie was transfixed, but then realized the full importance of that question.

"No," she said earnestly.

Cedric stared at her for a moment longer, then returned to his book.

"It's just that Gryffindor hasn't won since, well, a long time," Katie continued, "and it's his last year. He's been thinking about it, even practicing for it, all summer."

"So, anything else going on?" Cedric asked, casually changing the subject.

"Well, my birthday was on Tuesday," Katie lightly responded, looking down at her drawing, on which she had made no progress since Cedric had appeared.

"Happy Birthday!" said Cedric. "You're what...sixteen now?"

"Fifteen," Katie corrected him.

"Oh, I thought you were older."

"I get that a lot," she said, looking up and meeting his mesmerizing eyes with her brown ones.

"I suppose, having a September birthday and hanging out with Alicia and Angelina. They're fifth years, yes?"

"Yeah," said Katie absentmindedly.

They both fell quiet as Cedric went to work. Katie did her best to continue her drawing, but found she just couldn't focus while having the boy of her dreams sitting across the table from her. She snuck a glance at him as often as she could, which was hard considering she was trying not to move her head inordinately. When the noon bell rang, Cedric stood up and stretched. Katie looked up at him, heart pounding. She didn't want him to leave, and following him out would be suspicious.

"You coming to lunch?" he asked.

Katie stared blankly for a moment. His words weren't quite sinking in. Then, her stomach gave an audible growl. She quickly glanced at it, then looked up at Cedric and grinned. "I guess so."

Cedric smiled back. "Good."

Katie had to stop herself from tossing everything haphazardly into her bag. Nevertheless, she was ready to go before Cedric, and waited patiently for him to cork his inkbottle before stowing it. When he was done, they set off for the Great Hall, joking and talking lightheartedly all the way until they had stepped across the threshold. Cedric bade her goodbye and set off for the Hufflepuff table, while Katie gave him a wave of her own and made her way to sit at the reasonably empty Gryffindor table. She thanked her lucky stars that none of her friends had seen her walk in with him. She helped herself to a pasty and some carrots, thinking every girl deserves to have a couple secrets.

Wednesday evening, Katie went up to her dormitory after a hearty dinner to get some textbooks for studying until that night's Astronomy lesson. When she opened the door, however, she found that the room was in shambles. All of her dorm mates spun around to look at her, their eyes wide. Rose and Chloe's trunks were open, their contents tossed randomly about the room. The items that normally stood on their bed stands lay among the mess, and they appeared to have begun stripping their beds of the sheets.

"What's going on?"

"The Jewelry Thief struck again," replied Rhea.

"You're not still on about that, are you?" Katie asked, exasperated.

"What if I am?" cried Rhea, her eyes wider than ever.

"My best pair of earrings is gone," said Rose.

"And a necklace of mine," Chloe added.

"We've been looking for them," Leanne said, gesturing to the heaps of displaced clothes.

"I bet _she_ nicked them!" exclaimed Rhea, pointing at Katie.

"What? Why would I want to steal your jewelry? I'd never use it!"

"You could sell it," said Rose, starting to look suspicious.

"To who? Filch?" As Katie's temper rose, she willed herself to keep it in check.

"But no one's nicked your stuff," protested Chloe.

"I don't have jewelry for someone _to _steal," said Katie.

"Oh yes you do," said Rhea, now getting a maniacal glint in her eye. "What about that necklace of your mom's?"

Katie instinctively put a hand to her throat and felt, to her relief, that her mother's necklace was still there. Rhea smirked when she saw Katie did indeed still have her necklace. Katie felt cold fury course through her. "Okay," said Katie coldly, as she savagely threw her telescope and a rune dictionary into her bag "but that's because I'm not thick enough to leave my valuables lying around." With that, she turned on her heel and exited out into the spiral staircase, before she allowed them to further accuse her.

She reached the common room still scowling, her pulse heightened from the tension. She was so caught up in her angry, racing thoughts, that she didn't stop stomping until a firm hand grasped her shoulder.

"Bell, are you okay?" asked a deep, Scottish voice. Katie spun around. Oliver stood there, his brown eyes searching her own.

"I'm fine," she said through gritted teeth.

"No you're—"

"They think I've been nicking their ruddy jewelry!" she spat, her face contorted in a firey glower.

"Oh," said Oliver, quite awkwardly. "Well, um…"

"Nevermind," said Katie unkindly, "what do you want?"

"I, um," started Wood, obviously not wanting to do anything to push any of Katie's buttons.

"Spit it out."

"Here," he said shortly, pushing the latest issue of _Quidditch Quarterly_ and a brightly wrapped box into her arms. He turned on his heel and stalked off towards his favorite corner of the common room. Katie felt a slight pang of guilt. She hadn't meant to take her anger out on him. Actually, she had to admit that she hated yelling at him far more than him yelling at her. Of course, he was always yelling with a purpose—keep the Quaffle protected, don't let them see where you're going to pass—instead of taking out his suppressed anger on her. Katie looked ashamedly over at him in his corner, then decided to apologize. She slowly approached him, studying alone in the corner. He looked up at her, but his frown faded when he saw her dejected look. Katie stopped and the two considered each other in silence.

"I'm sorry," said Katie, forcing herself to look him in the eye. "I didn't mean to take it out on you. I just—"

"I know you have a temper," he said with a sigh, "I've seen it on the pitch."

"I'm forgiven, then?" she asked with a grin.

"Oh, I suppose," Wood answered, pretending that it was taking him a lot of effort to decide. Katie smiled, then perched herself on the edge of the table.

"So what was it you wanted me to see in here?" she asked, placing the magazine between them.

"The third article," he said, flipping it open to reveal a two-page spread that depicted three Chasers flying in formation. "It's got a lot of good things to say about that side roll we were working on. It's got some other useful techniques, too. You should read it."

"Okay," said Katie, glancing at the picture for another moment before closing the magazine. "And what about this?" she asked, holding up the large package.

Oliver's ears went slightly pink. "Happy birthday," he said. "I'm sorry it's late. I—forgot."

"It's okay," Katie said, waving off the apology. "A lot of people loose it in all the kerfuffle from the start of term. So, should I open it now?" she asked teasingly.

Wood shrugged. "If you want."

Katie smiled mischievously before tearing the vibrant paper away. Inside was a sleek black leather case that was labeled in shimmering silver words Broomstick Servicing Kit. Katie yelped with delight. She nearly fell off the table while leaning over to hug Oliver. He looked rather awkward, as if he wasn't used to girls hugging him, but managed to catch her with his arm as she wrapped both of hers around his neck.

"Wow! This is great!" she said as she righted herself once more. "How did you know I needed this?"

"I didn't" he admitted sheepishly. "When I talked to Harry at the beginning of the year, he said he'd got one for his birthday."

Katie beamed at Oliver, then looked down and unlatched the case. Opening it, she glanced at all the shining new products. Oliver reached over and grabbed what looked like a large, silver nail clipper.

"Now you can get rid of that list," he said brightly.

"Thanks," said Katie wholeheartedly.

Oliver nodded, placing the clippers back in their proper spot. Katie glanced up and spotted her dorm mates sitting in their usual spot in the common room.

"I should go put this upstairs," she said.

"Sure," he said, pulling his books towards him again.

She leapt gingerly off the table and headed up to the girls' dormitories. When she reached her room, she noticed that a glow was coming from beneath her robes. Placing the magazine and Broom Servicing Kit on her bed, she reached in and pulled out her necklace, which was glowing much brighter than it had the first night. Having a thought, she placed what little fingernails she had into the crack of the locket and tried to open it, to no avail. Giving up, she held the locket in her palm for a moment, considering it. Why did the necklace glow? And why did it change its brightness? After a few minutes, she shrugged and tucked it beneath her robes once again. When Katie returned to the common room, she went over to Alicia, Angelina, Lee, Fred and George. The others looked up as she sat down in an overstuffed chair.

"Busy, are we?" asked George with a devilish grin. Katie's mind immediately flashed back to her falling on Oliver. Of course it must've looked like major flirting to these five. Katie doubted whether there was another group in the entire school that could plot like her friends.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," said Katie, pulling out her Ancient Runes homework.

The older students exchanged exasperated why-does-she-even-bother-to-resist looks.

"Do to," said Fred.

"You two looked pretty cozy over there," joked Alicia.

"If you must know," said Katie coolly, "he forgot my birthday and was giving me a belated present."

"He didn't forget your birthday," said Angelina.

"Of course he did," replied Katie. "Why else would I be getting his present now?"

"I have no idea," said Angelina, returning to her book.

Katie looked at her, suddenly suspicious. "Oh, yes you do."

"Nope. Not a clue," Angelina replied casually.

Katie gritted her teeth. She was powerless to coerce Angelina into saying anything she didn't want to, unless she had outside help. She looked hopefully at Alicia, Lee, Fred and George, but they all quickly lowered their eyes back to their work as well.

"Oh, fine," said Katie, taking out her frustration by viciously flipping through the pages of her rune dictionary until she tore one. "_Reparo"_ she said, despondently tapping the page with her wand.

"Katie, Katie, Katie," said Alicia with only a hint of condescension. "You'll know soon enough."

Katie seemed to be touchy with almost everyone the next morning. She was annoyed by her dorm mates, who had spent a goodly amount of Astronomy the previous night staring coldly at her and shaking their heads ominously. Katie was also still touchy with Alicia and Angelina for their comments the previous night. By day's end, however, Katie was sick of ignoring the leers and whisperings of her classmates and was more than happy to forgive her best friends for their greatly milder offense. Searching them out in the common room, she plopped down in her usual chair. It seemed they knew she would come around by that evening, because they immediately began to regale her about their rather horrific Potions class. When they were finished, Katie confided to them about the second round of stolen jewelry and how it was now thought that she was the mysterious jewelry thief.

"That's horrible!" cried Alicia.

"And stupid," added Lee.

Alicia shot him a disapproving look and he shut up.

"You know," said George, "Fred and I've just got a hold of some bulbadox powder, we could—"

"I'm sure you could," Katie interrupted. "and I'm sure it'd be hilarious, but I don't really want to make the situation worse." She looked around at Alicia, Angelina and Lee, hoping they had some idea. She thought she heard Fred mumble something along the lines of "party pooper." When she turned to him, she saw him wince ever so briefly, then a smile flash across Angelina's features, there and gone, quick as lightning.

"I don't know what to tell you," Angelina said to cover it up. "Seems like that Rhea girl is pretty set in her thinking."

"Sometimes it's just better to wait it out," said Lee. Katie smiled at him. He was quiet, at least compared to his best friends, but he was smart, and she thought he was pretty cool. Katie also suspected that he was the reason Fred and George had been able to pass all their subjects so far. In fact, he was basically Alicia's perfect counterpart in the boys' trio.

"I suppose you're right," said Katie slowly. "I just wish I had the patience."

The weather got colder and wetter and the nights darker as September died away. Katie started to get restless. She knew that the Quidditch season was coming. She hadn't spent any more time on her broom then that one Sunday afternoon, and she couldn't wait to get back on. The rest of the team also seemed as keen as she was to get back into it. Oliver, as Captain, called the first team meeting of the year to discuss tactics for the first Thursday in October. After dinner, they all trooped from the castle down the grounds to the Quidditch pitch.

When the team filed into the chilly locker rooms, the air seemed electric with excitement about the beginning of the Quidditch season. The seven of them gathered together: three Chasers, two Beaters, the Keeper, and Harry, the Seeker. There were plenty of good-natured hellos between the youngest player and the rest—Harry was always gallivanting about with Ron and Hermione, and so didn't see much of his teammates except in passing. But, as Oliver took his place by the oval-shaped blackboard on which he would be showing them his plays, the room fell silent. Even the Weasley twins looked up at their captain with hushed anticipation. It was time for the start of season speech.

There was a quiet sort of desperation in Oliver's voice as he addressed his six fellow team members.

"This is our last chance—my last chance—to win the Quidditch Cup," he told them, striding up and down in front of them. "I'll be leaving at the end of this year. I'll never get another shot at it.

"Gryffindor hasn't won for seven years now. Okay, so we've had the worst luck in the world—injuries—then the tournament getting called off last year," Wood swallowed, as though the memory still brought a lump to his throat. "But we also know we've got the _best-ruddy-team-in-the-school_," he said, punching a fist into his other hand, the old manic glint back in his eye. "We've got three _superb_ Chasers."

Wood pointed at Alicia Spinnet, Angelina Johnson, and Katie Bell. The three of them exchanged grins.

"We've got two _unbeatable_ Beaters."

"Stop it, Oliver, you're embarrassing us," said Fred and George Weasley together, pretending to blush.

"And we've got a Seeker who has _never failed to win us a match_!" Wood rumbled, glaring at Harry with a kind of furious pride.

"And me," he added as an afterthought.

"We think you're very good too, Oliver," said George.

"Spanking good Keeper," said Fred. There were varying sounds of assent from the rest of the team.

"The point is," Wood went on, resuming his pacing, "the Quidditch Cup should have had our name on it these last two years. Ever since Harry joined the team, I've thought the thing was in the bag. But we haven't got it, and this year's the last chance we'll get to finally see our name on the thing..."

Wood spoke so dejectedly that even Fred and George looked sympathetic.

"Oliver, this year's our year," said Fred.

"We'll do it, Oliver!" said Angelina.

"Definitely," said Harry.

Oliver looked beamed at each one of them in turn, especially Harry, who had always been his favorite. When he glanced at Katie, she crossed her heart—reminding him of the promise she had already made on that gorgeous September evening. Oliver's mouth twitched ever so slightly before his eyes moved to Alicia, who nodded confidently.

"Right," he said, turning to the blackboard and pulling out his wand. "Now, to the game plan. Defense first, I think."

He tapped the blackboard with his wand. Scarlet sparks leapt to the surface in the shape of seven brooms, positioned around the board. Oliver turned back to the team, and began "Because the Quaffle is always in play, the first and most important thing to a strong defense is a quick transition…"

Oliver's strategies were more effective, though more difficult, than ever. He obviously thought very highly of his team, and of their potential. The team had developed an impeccable cohesiveness over the past two years—"the top intangible", as Wood called it—and he planned to use that to start performing professional-quality plays.

"They may not always work," he admitted, "but when they do, they're dynamite."

At the end of the meeting, he handed each player a folio of parchment, stitched together to make a book—a playbook, to be specific. There were even separate versions for Chasers (which was thickest), Beaters and Seeker (which looked more like a play-leaflet than a playbook).

"Practice starts Saturday," said Wood as he passed them out. "I expect you all to have read these by then."

Katie looked dubiously at her own thick copy.

"Come off it, Oliver!" said Fred.

"We've got enough work as it is!" added George.

"You'll read it or you'll face those bludgers without bats!" Wood barked.

"You wouldn't!" said Fred, feigning dismay.

"Watch me," replied Oliver with a dangerous glint in his eye. Neither twin dared answer him.

The meeting ended soon after. Oliver tapped the blackboard again and the sparkling, scarlet brooms vanished from its surface. They exited the locker rooms, Fred and George with their heads together, Harry walking with a spring in his step Katie was sure hadn't been there before the meeting. The three Chasers walked up the sloping grounds together, letting their cloaks flutter in the cool October wind.

"I think he's finally gone over the edge," said Angelina when they were out of earshot of Oliver, who had remained behind to lock up. She held up her playbook. "I mean, look at this thing! I'm barely keeping up with my work as it is, and then he hands us this? I _refuse_ to read it."

"He probably is loosing touch," mused Alicia, "He's only taking four classes, so he has lots more time than us."

"It's ridiculous!" fumed Angelina. "He probably just wanted to give himself another reason to yell at us!"

"You're awfully quiet, Katie," Alicia said.

"I don't think it's fair that we all got thicker books," Katie confessed, "but I also think Wood's only doing this because he cares so much."

"I don't think Cedric's doing this for _his_ team," teased Angelina. "But maybe _he's_ just giving them all _private lessons_…"

Katie felt herself turn pink. What she wouldn't give to have a private lesson with Cedric. Her friends looked over at her, knowingly. Then Alicia started staring at Katie's chest.

"I know I have a rack, Ali," joked Katie, "but you don't have to—" She stopped when she got a better look at Alicia's face. She followed her gaze down, and saw, once again, the mysterious glow of the necklace beneath her robe. The three of them halted, and all stared down at the necklace. "Oh, that," she said, pulling it out. It was as brilliant, if not a bit more so, than the night when Katie had been accused of being the jewelry thief. Katie quickly relayed this story to her friends, who listened with uncharacteristically silent attention. When she had finished, Angelina looked ever more distrustfully at the necklace, while Alicia seemed lost in thought.

"This is really weird," said Angelina. "I'd get rid of that thing. I mean, if it wasn't so important to you," she added hastily as Katie shot her a scathing look.

"It's just so…odd!" exclaimed Alicia. "I've never heard of anything like it."

Katie looked down at the necklace once more before tucking it under her robes. As they reached the threshold of the castle, Angelina looked back towards the Quidditch pitch.

"Where's Oliver?" she asked. "He was behind us, wasn't he?"

Alicia followed her gaze. "We left," she answered, "but I don't know if he followed us out. He said he had to lock up."

"Locking up doesn't take this long," said Katie.

Angelina shook her head. "Like Fred said: mental."

"Anyway," said Alicia, bringing the subject back as they stepped into the cavernous entrance hall, "your mum was a witch, wasn't she?"

"Yeah," Katie answered. She didn't see how that helped.

"Do you know how old the family was? I mean, how far back they were wizards and witches?"

"Not exactly," said Katie, "but they seemed pretty pure-blood from what I've heard."

"Then it must be ancient magic!" exclaimed Alicia hopefully.

"That would certainly explain why it's so…weird," added Angelina.

"Maybe you're descended from someone famous!"

"Maybe…" Katie replied. Alicia seemed much more excited about that possibility than she did. There were so many questions swimming inside her head right now, she felt queasy more than anything else.

Alicia heard the lackluster tone in Katie's voice and desisted. "Just a thought," she said apologetically.

"It's alright," Katie reassured her. "I think I'm just tired."

"Okay," Alicia responded, though she didn't sound entirely convinced.

The three made their way up to the seventh floor in silence.

"And why are you three still out?" the Fat Lady inquired of them.

"Fortuna Major" was all she got for an answer. She looked haughtily down at them, then swung forward to allow them in. Katie felt like she was sleep walking, because she didn't seem to be processing anything her eyes were sending to her brain. She simply drifted across the common room, and up the stairs to her dormitory, saying good night to her friends. Once in her room, she collapsed on the bed, thankful that no one else was in the room yet. She took the necklace off for the first time, and the glowing stopped. Turning the lights on, she gazed at it for what seemed like hours, examining every detail of the wide chain and simple locket. But nothing was to be gleaned from even the most careful inspection.

She finally gave up when Rhea entered the room. Rhea saw her, sniffed, and went straight to her bed. Katie put the necklace back on, went to her trunk, and quickly got ready for bed. Getting into bed, she pulled her curtains shut with a little more force than was necessary. When she slipped between the tightly-tucked sheets, she fingered the locket one last time, and whispered into the night, "I wish you were here, mom."


	4. A Mystery Solved

On Saturday morning, Katie walked into the Great Hall to find the enchanted ceiling mimicking the mass of silvery gray clouds visible through the tall, mullioned windows.

"Good sign," said Wood looking up as she approached. "No sun to get into our eyes."

"It's not a game day," Katie reminded Oliver as she took a seat on the bench next to him.

"I know, but I want to have a good practice to start the season on the right foot."

Katie grabbed a piece of toast and replied, "If you say so."

"So, how's the reading been going?" Oliver asked brightly.

"Erm…good," Katie responded. She hadn't found time to thoroughly read the playbook, but she had at least scanned through it all. She found she had a lot more free time now that Rhea, Rose and Chloe weren't talking to her. Leanne was doing her best to be polite, and had reassured Katie (outside the hearing range of the others) that she didn't believe she was a thief. Nevertheless, their relationship had also turned a bit cooler, so much so that Katie was making even the stupidest mistakes in Herbology, ones that Leanne used to covertly prevent.

"I hope the others liked it, too," said Wood happily.

Katie quickly took a large bite of her toast so she wouldn't have to answer. She knew for a fact that neither Fred nor George had cracked the cover of theirs. Angelina had looked at the first page the previous night, then promptly thrown it down in disgust, complaining once again about Oliver having another excuse to yell at her.

Harry was the next team member to join them at the table. He said a quick hello before tucking into a pile of eggs and bacon. Angelina and Alicia showed up next with dark circles under their eyes. They had obviously been up late studying yet again. Katie knew Alicia was taking OWL year very seriously, but she was starting to become worried for her health. By the time Fred and George rolled in, they only had time to grab some toast and head out again, grumbling about early practices.

The team made the way down to the pitch. After fetching their brooms (Katie having to suffer another pang of guilt as she looked longingly at Harry's Nimbus), the team entered the locker room. When Katie opened her locker, she reveled for a moment in the joy of seeing her Quidditch uniform again after a long hiatus.

In a well-practiced ritual, Katie exchanged her plain, black school robes for ones of vivid scarlet. Next, she changed into the special, light Quidditch shoes and strapped the guards onto her shins and forearms. Finally, she pulled on her new gloves. Flexing her hands, she marveled in the way they seemed already worn in. She caught Angelina's eye and gave her a grateful smile.

Once done, she and Angelina waited for Alicia to finish. Katie fiddled with her ponytail to be certain it was secure.

"Ready?" Angelina asked Oliver as Alicia grabbed her broom. Oliver was sitting on the bench in front of the lockers, looking over his own playbook, a quill in his hand. Katie saw he had already scribbled some changes or tips in the margins. Oliver looked up at them, momentarily dazed.

"Oh, yes, right," he responded clumsily.

Katie smiled as he stuffed the playbook in his locker, grasped his Comet 260 by the handle and strode out onto the pitch. If he was loosing his head in the game already, she knew they had a great season to look forward to.

"Harry!" Wood bellowed.

Harry, who was already flying around the pitch, looked towards the noise, turned on a dime, and sped down towards them, pulling up just in time and dismounting delicately to the ground. He was truly graceful on a broom, more than could be said for him at practically any other time. Katie had the same problem, but even she didn't look like she had been born on a broom like he did.

"Alright," said Wood as his team gathered around him. "First practice. Let's make it a good one, shall we? To start—George, give us the firework," he said, turning on the twin who had been inching closer to him from behind.

George quickly flicked his wrist and then held up his empty hands. "I am unarmed!" he proclaimed, looking oh-so-offended.

"And I'm Prince Charles," snapped Wood, "Now get to work!"

They all knew an order when they heard one. Everyone mounted their brooms and rocketed off into the air within two shakes of a lamb's tail.

"Wow. He yelled at them before we even got into the air," Alicia said to Katie with a smile as the two ascended in parallel. "Must be a record."

"He's really into it this year," Katie responded, looking down at Oliver while leveling off high above the ground.

Oliver tossed the Quaffle up to Angelina. "Work on your passes, ladies!" he called, then bent down again to release a Bludger for Fred and George. Katie shot off to one side, then practiced her side roll as the Bludger shot after her.

Fred swooped down in front of her, and with a quick "pardon me, miss" beat the heavy black ball towards George.

Angelina, meanwhile, had done a flashy reverse-pass to Alicia, and Katie swerved back to receive the Quaffle herself. Finally, Wood released the Golden Snitch for Harry to practice catching. Once that was done, Oliver mounted his broom and zoomed from Chasers to Seeker to Beaters and back, barking out corrections.

"Forgot how to swing that bat properly over the summer have we?" he called to George. "Alicia, you need to—ARGH!" Oliver was forced to do a sloth-grip roll as a Bludger went soaring past his ear. He turned to face George. "THAT WAS DELIBERATE!" he bellowed.

George simply smiled innocently back, as Fred streaked off for the Bludger, which had decided to go for Harry. After a few more minutes, Wood blew two blasts on his whistle and the whole team gathered around, Katie with the Quaffle tucked securely under her arm, Harry with the Golden Snitch in his fist, and Fred attempting to keep control of the Bludger that was struggling violently in his arms.

"Alright, team. Let's give some of these new plays a shot. I say we run through Lion first."

"Lion?" asked Angelina.

Oliver sputtered for a moment as he stared at her. "L-Lion. The—our—THE FIRST PLAY IN THE BOOK I GAVE YOU TWO DAYS AGO!"

"Oh," said Angelina calmly, "that."

"You—you didn't read it?" asked Wood, looking quite crestfallen.

"Well, Oliver, if you must know," she responded coolly, "I happen to have enough work on my plate without you giving us _homework _for_ Quidditch_."

"But—" Oliver started.

"So, no, I didn't read it."

After a pause, he asked slowly, "How many of you didn't read it?"

Fred, George and Angelina's hands shot into the air proudly. Alicia only raised her hand to her shoulder, looking slightly abashed. Harry and Katie both blushed ashamedly, but for them the reason was they had been the only two thick enough to take Oliver seriously.

Oliver sat there for a moment, utterly speechless. Then, he shouted, "INSUBORDINATION! I should—"

"—have known better," George finished for him.

"Honestly, man, did you think we'd take you seriously?" asked Fred.

"But I—" Oliver looked around for help, and upon finding none, resigned himself to defeat. "Alright. We'll go over Lion now."

He flew off most dejectedly towards the other side of the pitch.

"You know," said Angelina, "if he wasn't so overly obsessed about all this, I might actually feel sorry for him."

Katie simply nodded her head as she watched their captain speed away.

Despite Oliver's shattered dream of his wonderful playbook, the first practice went brilliantly. By the end, even Wood was grinning from ear to ear. The whole group could tell they had the immense wealth of potential to be the best team Hogwarts had seen in years. Full of determination, the team started training sessions three evenings a week. They worked hard through mud, wind and rain, all but oblivious to the harsh conditions as the image of the huge, silver Quidditch Cup loomed in their minds.

Around a week later, Katie returned to the Gryffindor common room with the team after a training session, cold and stiff but grinning from ear to ear after pulling off a rather tricky set of plays flawlessly. She passed through the portrait hole to find the room buzzing excitedly. Harry was first into the room, with Fred and George at his heels—of course they would want to be the first ones to know what the hubbub was all about. Harry talked to Ron and Hermoine, Fred hovering just behind him. Katie saw Fred break into a huge grin, say something, then come bounding back to the rest of the team.

"First Hogsmeade weekend's on Halloween!" he said.

As with any other time immediately following the posting of dates for a Hogsmeade visit, everyone from third year up was talking about it. You couldn't go from one class to the next without hearing someone gabbing about what they were going to buy, or with whom they'd heard someone was going. Katie was desperately looking forward to a nice, warm Butterbeer, some sugar quills and another large chunk of nougat from Honeydukes, but for the first time, she had something else on her mind as well: a date. She hadn't really done more with Cedric since their not-so-chance meeting in the library. They had ended up talking in the halls once or twice, but his flock of protective supporters, as well as the amount of time Quidditch was beginning to take out of her schedule, were making it ever than harder for her to spend time with him. She glanced longingly over at the Hufflepuff table often enough that Alicia and Angelina had even stopped teasing her about it. On the contrary, they looked rather worried for her sanity. Katie reluctantly decided to lay off a bit, just in case they decided to do something drastic. Unfortunately, Katie was starting to consider doing something drastic herself. There just seemed to be no way to get close to Cedric.

Finally, on Thursday, she was walking back to the castle from Hagrid's cabin after another rather boring lesson involving Puffskeins (Hagrid seemed to have lost his gusto after that creepy Draco brat had been attacked by a Hippogriff) when she saw Cedric exiting the castle and heading for the lake.

"I'll see you," she told Leanne, and ran off to catch up with him. "Cedric!" she called when she got close enough.

Cedric spun around, looking somewhat agitated, but grinned when he saw who it was. "Oh, hi, Katie."

"How's it going?" she asked as she closed the gap.

"Alright," he answered. "I was just going for a walk. Care to join me?"

"Don't mind if I do."

Cedric turned and Katie fell into step with him as they walked along the lakeshore.

"Excited about the Hogsmeade weekend?" asked Cedric.

"Yeah," Katie answered as casually as she possibly could.

"I'm really looking forward to having Butterbeer and Chocoballs again," Cedric admitted, a dreamy expression drifting across his features.

"Mmm…" Katie imagined the strawberry mousse and clotted cream as well.

"What's your favorite sweet?" Cedric asked.

"Oh, I like the homemade nougat," she said. "but sugar quills are good, too, since you can have them in class."

Cedric nodded. "My dad told me that when he went to Hogwarts, they came out with quills that had wit-sharpening potion inside. Everyone started doing so well on their tests that the teachers found out and the Ministry had to intervene and stop production."

"I guess those were the original smart-answer quills, then," said Katie with a laugh. Without thinking, she added, "My da wouldn't know anything about that sort of thing…"

"He's a Muggle?" asked Cedric kindly.

"Yeah, and a rather helpless one at that," Katie admitted with an affectionate grin. "He's not very organized, and a horrible cook. He's best at frozen dinners."

"Are those the things you cook in the macro-wave?" Cedric asked, stumbling over the last word.

"Microwave, yeah."

"Well, it must've been a shock when you found out you were coming to Hogwarts."

"Sort of. My mum was a witch, but she—" Katie stopped herself. Cedric looked over at her, concernedly, and opened his mouth to change the subject. Katie, though touched once again by his gentlemanliness, decided to take a chance and continue. "—she died when I was four."

"I'm sorry," said Cedric earnestly.

"It's okay," Katie replied without having to think about it. "She was really sick. They said it was better that she passed quickly."

She paused. Cedric looked at her warmly. He was going to let her say whatever she needed to. Katie silently thanked him for it.

"When—when I threw up," she continued, "on the train, because of those dementors?"

Cedric nodded his acknowledgement.

"It was because—because of her. I saw her lying on that hospital bed…and…and…" she couldn't talk anymore. The lump in her throat wouldn't go away. Her eyes stung as she held back tears. She had to stop. She would hate for Cedric to see her cry. The last thing she wanted was for him to think she was just another overly-emotional drama queen. But she couldn't hold back. A tear slipped down her cheek. Cedric stopped walking and looked at her, concern reflected in his gray eyes. Katie stopped too, looked away, and hurriedly wiped away the tear. "Sorry," she whispered hoarsely.

Cedric didn't respond—not really. He just put a hand on her shoulder and gently said, "Sit down."

Katie obeyed. She didn't know what else to do. Pulling her cloak about her, she plopped clumsily down on a patch of earth, and looked out at the lake, seeing the water ripple as a giant tentacle was pulled under the surface. Cedric sat next to her and gazed out towards the lake as well. Katie felt another tear leaking out, and wiped it away with her sleeve before it could fall. Cedric still sat, motionless, staring out in front of him. Katie looked at him appreciatively.

"Thanks," she said.

Cedric looked at her. "Just take your time."

Katie nodded and they both faced forward again. Katie took deep breaths until she was sure she had herself contained.

"So what about your family?" she asked. Cedric looked at her, as if to check that she was doing alright.

"All wizards and witches," he replied. "Back as far as anyone can remember. My great-great-grandfather was Minister of Magic."

"Wow!" said Katie, deliberately absorbing herself in what he was saying.

Cedric grimaced. "I suppose. It's just that Dad will never let me forget it."

"Well, why should you? I mean, there's lots of wizards that are really proud of their ancestors," said Katie sensibly.

"But we're not into that whole pure-blood stuff. Dad's convinced that I'm the best thing since dragon's blood. He thinks I'm going to be the next Minister in the family, or Hogwarts headmaster, or professional Quidditch player or something else illustrious."

"And what _do _you want to be?" asked Katie.

"I'm not sure," Cedric replied with a weary sigh. "That's part of the problem. Dad just keeps trying to set me up with some of his Ministry cronies, but I don't really fancy a desk job."

"It'll work out," said Katie confidently. "My da started out with an ice cream store. Then he was a carpenter, and now he's a postman. He always told me 'it's not what you want to do with your life, but what you want to do first.'"

Cedric smiled gratefully at her, and Katie was thankful that she was sitting down as her stomach did a huge flip-flop.

"You know, your dad sounds like a really smart guy," Cedric told her.

Katie shrugged. "Doesn't make his cooking any better, though."

Cedric snorted, and Katie couldn't suppress a grin at her own joke.

"We should probably be heading back," he said.

"Alright," Katie replied reluctantly.

They walked back up to the castle in silence, enjoying the wonderful feel of fresh air on their faces. When they stepped into the entrance hall, Cedric turned to her.

"It was really nice to talk to you, Katie," he said earnestly.

Katie was surprised she didn't drop dead from happiness right then and there.

"Um, yeah," she responded, fighting to keep her nerves under control, "it was good talking to you, too."

"Have you got any plans for Hogsmeade?"

Now Katie _really_ had to fight to keep from falling. Or dancing. She wasn't sure which one she wanted to do first.

"Uh, no."

"Do you want to meet down there or something?"

She couldn't believe this. All her dreams were coming true. Images of her and Cedric walking down the High Street, laughing, hand-in-hand, flashed through her mind.

"Sure. What time?"

She silently willed him to say something early so they could spend the whole day together.

"How about we meet at Zonko's at one. I've got to run an errand for Mom in the morning."

"Okay. Zonko's. One o'clock."

"Alright. See you then!" said Cedric as he started off toward the basement, giving her a parting wave.

One o'clock wasn't exactly what she'd been hoping for, but if he was running an errand for his mother. Katie found this yet another thing to add to her sizable mental list of great things about Cedric Diggory. She took the steps on the marble staircase two at a time, and half-skipped all the way up to the seventh floor.

"Fortuna major!" she sang to the Fat Lady, who swung forward with a kind smile.

Angelina and Alicia were nowhere to be found in the common room. Katie continued, undaunted, up the spiral staircase to the girls' dormitories. Once she reached the second landing, she burst into the room. Sure enough, her two friends were there, deeply immersed in conversation. Katie's face broke into an enormous grin.

Alicia looked up and smiled. "What's up with you, Katie?" she asked curiously.

"Guess who I'm meeting in Hogsmeade?" Katie replied, in a rather girly sing-song voice.

"No!" Alicia exclaimed.

"Cedric?" Angelina asked.

Katie's grin got even bigger, if that was possible. Angelina and Alicia squealed, standing up to tackle her in a three-person hug.

"That's great!" cried Alicia.

"Katie and Cedric! Katie and Cedric!" Angelina chanted.

When they finally released, Katie collapsed with a happy sigh onto Angelina's bed. Angelina plopped down next to her.

"Blimey, Kates," she said, "when…_how_ did you become such a fox?"

"What do you mean?" asked Katie blissfully.

"You got _asked by Cedric_ to meet with him in Hogsmeade," explained Alicia exasperatedly as she sat down on the edge of her own bed. "Diana O'Rourke has been trying to do that for two years!"

"Diana's a cow," said Angelina.

"But she's quite fanciable," Alicia replied.

"Is not."

"Is too. Oliver had a crush on her all last year."

"He _what_?" Angelina demanded.

"Honestly, Ange, sometimes I think you're blind as a bat."

Katie watched this typical exchange with a blank, detached look on her face. She was to busy dreaming about Halloween to be interested in her friends' benign bickering.

"In any case," Alicia said, bringing the conversation around again, "how'd you do it, Kates?"

That brought Katie crashing back down to earth. She sat up and shrugged.

"Not much," she admitted, "I just talked to him."

"Oh, easy as pie was it?" Angelina cut in.

"Well, _getting_ to talk to him was the hard part. You've seen that awful fan club of his following him around everywhere, batting their eyelashes at him. They've been driving me nuts all year."

"So what did you talk about?" pressed Alicia.

"Sweets," Katie answered truthfully.

Angelina crossed her arms and glared.

"…and our families. Sounds like he's got a really pushy father."

"Does he know about your mum?" Alicia asked.

"Yeah. I didn't mean to tell him, you know how I hate that you-poor-thing routine, but he didn't do that at all. He just let me tell him, without making any judgments. I just felt so…comfortable around him, it all came tumbling out, even about why I threw up on the train."

"Sounds like you two have got a decent connection," said Alicia. Katie was surprised that she had already started to analyze the situation, though she probably shouldn't have been. "Normally, you wouldn't talk about your background for another week or so. It's not usually the first thing to come up."

"I didn't mean—" Katie started.

"Oh, shut it, Ali," interrupted Alicia. "Don't listen to her, Kates. Not all relationships go by formula."

Alicia raised an eyebrow. "And how many relationships have I predicted correctly?"

"Dozens," answered Angelina grudgingly.

Alicia gave her a look that clearly said she thought the matter settled. Angelina just rolled her eyes.

"But Katie's not like the other airheads that run around this school. I think that's why she got Cedric and Diana didn't."

Katie, for once, did not mind them debating her love life as if she wasn't there. It felt like nothing could burst her oh-so-happy bubble. She just sat there, looking out one of the tower's windows, imagining once again what this next trip to Hogsmeade would bring.

"Katie."

Katie looked into Alicia's face. She had completely lost track of time.

"Are you coming to dinner or are you going to sit here and daydream about your boyfriend all day?"

Katie shot her an offended look as she was forced from her reverie.

"Alright, I'm coming." she replied as she rose and strode toward the door. "And he is _not_ my boyfriend. Not yet, anyway."

Angelina smiled. "Whatever you say…"

That night, when Katie went to bed, she noticed the silver necklace was glowing brighter than ever. She took it as a good sign. Maybe it glowed when someone was lucky. It had certainly been bright after she'd received the Broomstick Servicing Kit. But what about that night after the first Quidditch meeting? Nothing really lucky had happened that night. She fell asleep, her mind pondering what it all might mean.

Katie's good mood continued through Friday—when she performed wonderfully at Quidditch practice—and on into the weekend. Alicia and Angelina were having a field day with the news about Cedric. They kept discussing it between them, then giving her tips about what to do or wear. The two of them could be quite a handful when something got their attention, but by Tuesday, Katie had tired of their vicarious interest. After dinner, she retired to her dorm for some quiet reading time—she hadn't quite finished the article from _Quidditch Quarterly_ that Oliver had shown her. Pulling the magazine out of her trunk, she lay down on her bed and scanned the article until she found the place where she had left off. Before she could get very far, however, the door opened and Rhea walked in, followed closely by Chloe.

"Oh, it's _you_," said Rhea sourly.

Katie, who had come up to her bed for some peace and quiet, was quite bitter that she had been disturbed. She sat up and faced them

"Will you quit talking about me like I'm an overgrown flobberworm?" she snapped.

"I'll stop talking about you when you've proven you're innocent," Rhea retorted.

"It's just a stupid bracelet. You could probably buy another one exactly like it in Hogsmeade."

"Why? Because you sold it to them?" Chloe demanded.

"Even if I did, it wouldn't fetch enough to buy a Licorice Wand. How come you're so convinced it was me? Just because I'm not stupid enough to leave my jewelry lying around? How do you know it wasn't Peeves? "

Katie could feel her temper rising rapidly. Rhea and Chloe were continuing to eye her as if she wasn't human.

"After three years, I've just decided to go around nicking things, have I? Well, I'm sick of you whispering about me in class! And I hate that you've turned Leanne against me!" Katie spat.

"We didn't do anything to her!" retorted Rhea "She follows _us_ of her own free will."

"Yeah right! You're just conniving, manipulating little—"

"I've heard enough," interrupted Chloe. "If you didn't steal them, then why are you so defensive?"

"Because you're treating me like dirt!"

"I think you need to see a Healer," replied Rhea coldly. "Come on, Chloe."

Rhea turned to walk out. Chloe, after shooting another disgusted glance at Katie, followed.

"That's right! Leave me alone!" Katie yelled after them.

Once door slammed shut, Katie slumped back onto her bed. She was furious at them. This had gone on for long enough. She didn't like the thought of what she was risking, but she knew she would have to if she was ever to clear her name.

That night, she took off the necklace. Its glow was extinguished immediately. Placing it on her bedside table, she closed her curtains most of the way, making sure to keep the necklace in view. Now all she had to do was settle down, watch and wait. She had enough to keep her mind busy—she had a quiz in Transfiguration the next day. Plus, there was always Cedric to think about…as her thoughts drifted to his handsome face, she found herself fighting the urge to close her eyes, just to imagine him a little better. But she had to keep her eyes on her necklace, or her plan would fail and she wouldn't be able to find out who—or what—was behind the disappearances.

She listened as the breathing of her dorm mates became slow and steady as one by one they drifted off. She heard Rose's light snores, and someone else's moan. She heard the leaves of the trees in the Forbidden Forrest rustling in the wind that had been building all day. Some hushed voices were carried up the spiral staircase from a lower level, but died away with a muffled clap as they too went to bed. Then, she thought she heard a soft patter. She instinctively stiffened, but remained motionless, straining to hear the sound again. After a few minutes without hearing the sound again, she relaxed. Her eyes drooped and she forced them open again. She had to get to the bottom of this. She tried to block out all the normal night sounds and listen only for the sound of someone, or something moving. But as the minutes passed, her mind wandered, and her eyelids fluttered shut once again…

Katie woke to the sound of rain lashing against the tower windows.

"NO!" she yelled, sitting up in bed.

"Wha? What happened?" Leanne asked sleepily.

Katie yanked back her curtain to find what she feared—an uncovered piece of her bedside table.

"My necklace!"

Another mumbled question came from one of the other girls. She had woken all her dorm mates up with her cries. Katie stared at the table in a state of horrible shock.

"I don't believe it," she said to no one in particular.

"What don't you believe?" asked Leanne, sitting up.

"You want proof of my innocence?" Katie snapped at Rhea, tears welling up in her eyes.

Rhea looked at her, perplexed.

"WELL THERE IT IS!" Katie screamed, pointing at the spot where the necklace had lain. "There it is!"

"Katie, what are you talking about?" asked Leanne gently.

"I left my mum's necklace out last night," explained Katie around the lump in her throat. "I wanted to see what was happening, but I fell asleep and now Mum's necklace…"

"Oh," Leanne said as the realization dawned on her. "Oh, I'm so sorry, Katie."

Katie couldn't help it; she finally began to cry. Her mother's necklace. She had been too concerned about daydreaming that she had lost it to the phantom jewelry menace. The one thing she had in the castle to remind her of her mother, other than a pair of creased photos, was gone. Her father's present to her on her fifteenth birthday was gone. Her sobs racked her body as all the girls in her dorm crowded on her bed and engulfed her in one, massive group hug. Rhea looked particularly guilty as Katie wept into Leanne's shoulder.

"It'll be okay," Leanne whispered consolingly. "It'll turn up. This can't go on forever."

Katie desperately wanted to believe her. Unfortunately, it was a school day and they all had to get ready for breakfast and classes. All the fourth year Gryffindor girls moved somberly through their morning routines, and for the first time in weeks, plodded silently down to the Great Hall together. Katie didn't sit with Angelina and Alicia for once, she was surrounded by Rose, Chloe, Rhea and Leanne, who all seemed determined to be her support group in atonement for they way they had scorned her. Her older friends did come over during breakfast, but Katie simply looked at them sadly, her face still slightly red and puffy, and shook her head. Angelina looked highly worried, and Alicia squeezed Katie's shoulders encouragingly before the two retreated to their breakfasts. Katie didn't feel much like eating, but with her friends gently coaxing her, she managed to get down a small amount of porridge.

Her dorm mates helped her along every minute of the day, almost overwhelmingly so. Nevertheless, she was glad that Leanne was back to helping her in Herbology. With her guidance, Katie only managed to waste a tablespoon of Bubotuber puss.

That evening in the common room, she finally excused herself from her support group, and went to sit with her fifth year friends, explaining to them all about her plan to clear her name and the end result. They were all quite sympathetic. The Weasley twins disappeared for a bit and returned with a few Butterbeers and brownies. Katie thanked them heartily, and quickly down one of the Butterbeers, which helped to greatly improve her mood and prepare her for the blustery Astronomy lesson later that evening.

After the long period of star-gazing, Katie returned to Gryffindor Tower for the night, absolutely exhausted. She was so thoroughly worn out that she flung herself into bed, and fell into a deep, dreamless sleep almost before her head hit the pillow.

The next day was better. The shock had worn off and Katie let Fred and George cheer her back to normal. Angelina even risked a little tease about getting Cedric to buy her a new one. In Charms class, Katie pondered and discussed with her dorm mates various ideas for what could have nicked their precious items and why.

Friday morning, the fourth year girls dormitory was woken once again by loud cries, but this time they were coming from Leanne. Katie leapt out of bed to see Leanne screaming and convulsing violently in her bed. Initially, Katie thought she was having seizures, then she heard what Leanne was screaming about.

"OUCH! OW! GEROFF ME! GET IT OFF!"

When Katie took a better look, she saw that Leanne was gripping something around her wrist.

"Okay!" Katie called. "Calm down! I can help!"

Leanne managed to stop flailing all but her arms.

"It hurts!" she yelped, tears streaming down her face. "Help me!"

"Stop thrashing and I'll help," said Katie as calmly as she could.

Leanne reluctantly obliged, biting her lower lip in concentration. Then Katie saw what she was holding: a small, furry, black creature with a rat-like tail.

"It's a Niffler!" she exclaimed, stepping forward and grasping it in her hands.

Leanne winced as Katie reached with a couple fingers and pried its mouth off of Leanne's hand. She saw Leanne was wearing two rings. The skin all around them were covered in scratches and bite marks.

"Rings…" she said. Then it hit her.

"Hey ladies," Katie called, holding up the courageously struggling Niffler in her hands, "I think I found our jewelry thief!"

"A wild Niffler in your room?" asked George later that morning at the breakfast table. "That's brilliant!"

"It wasn't a prank, George," scolded Alicia.

"It'd be a good one, though," replied Fred with a devilish grin.

"What'd you do with it?" asked Angelina.

"Gave it to Hagrid," Katie told her. "He said he'll train it so it won't cause any more problems. He's also getting another Niffler that's already trained so we can find our jewelry."

"Imagine that," Lee said. "It'd never thought it'd be something other than human. Well, except maybe Peeves. You never know what this old castle will throw at you."

"It's got to be a relief to be done with it, though," said Alicia.

"Yep," Katie confirmed with a happy sigh. "Case closed."

"Now all you've got to worry about is Sunday," joked Angelina as she gave her younger friend a gentle poke in the ribs.

Katie hid her huge grin behind a warm scone.


	5. Halloween in Hogsmeade

When Katie woke on Halloween morning, her features broke into a huge grin. She had been waiting for this day for a week and a half. Throwing the covers to the side, she jumped out of bed and strode to her trunk, where her clothes were already laid out.

"Well, good morning, sunshine," said Leanne, getting up as well.

"Blimey," said Rose from her bed, looking up. "Katie's the first one out of bed?"

"With clothes all laid out, no less," added Rhea, now sitting up.

"Is the sky going to fall down on our heads today?" Chloe asked while lazily rolling over.

Katie smiled. "No. I've just got something important going on today," she answered. She hadn't told even Leanne about her meeting with Cedric, and she didn't plan to, in case word got to Cedric's fan club and she ended up in the hospital wing with bat wings sprouting from her face. She didn't put anything past jealous teenage witches. But at least she could let her dorm mates in on at least part of the secret.

"What? You're going to drool over the Quidditch supplies, ask usual?" asked Rose.

"No."

"Something special," Leanne mused, "Don't tell me…"

"You've got a date?" Rhea burst out.

Katie felt her ears turn pink as she finished pulling off her pajamas.

"Great Merlin!" said Chloe, now sitting bolt upright.

"Who is it?" asked Rose, now hopping out of bed.

"It's not really a date," Katie replied as pulled her shirt over her head, the blush now spreading to the rest of her face.

"Oh, come off it," said Rhea, beginning to get ready for the day as well. "You're red as a Howler. You can tell us."

Katie shook her head as she continued to dress "I don't want to jinx it," she responded.

"Katie…" Leanne started. Katie caught her eye and gave the slightest shake of her head. Leanne's mouth opened, then shut again and she returned with the slightest of nods. Katie was sure she had guessed, but she knew Leanne was no gossip.

"Please tell us," Rose pleaded.

"Sorry, ladies," Katie said.

"You know we'll find out anyway," Chloe pointed out.

"I know," Katie replied with another smile as she finished clasping her cloak.

"So why not tell us now?" asked Rhea.

"Patience is a virtue," Katie responded calmly. She brushed her hair so it shone a beautiful mahogany-brown.

"Patience was my _grandmother's_ virtue," grumbled Rose. "Come on, Katie."

"Like you already said, you'll find out," said Katie, "So why worry about it now?"

"But--"

"Oh, leave her alone," said Leanne calmly. "She doesn't have to tell if she doesn't want to."

Katie made her way past Leanne. Leanne looked up at her with a good-luck smile. Katie responded with a covert wink.

"Have a good day, ladies!" Katie called, kissing her hand and raising it at them with great theatricality. She had closed the door behind her before the girls could answer.

Leanne smiled at the door as it closed. "Well, she's certainly gotten more confident."

"I don't know if I like it," said Rhea, "Since when does she get to be a so secretive?"

"You're just jealous that Tomboy Kate's got a date and you don't," teased Chloe. She promptly ducked as a pillow came soaring to where her face had just been.

Katie was positive that Hogwarts had never served a better breakfast. Maybe it was the glorious periwinkle hue of the enchanted ceiling that lightened her mood. Either way, she felt as happy as she had on her birthday. Angelina and Alicia sat next to her just as she was finishing her glass of orange juice.

"Well, we're up early today, aren't we?" Alicia asked jokingly.

"Don't happen to have anything _important_ going on today, do we?" Angelina teased.

"Now, why would you say that?" Katie joked right back.

Angelina smiled and grabbed a couple strips of bacon.

"That hair potion really did wonders on you," Alicia mused, looking her over.

"Yeah, thanks for letting me use some," Katie replied.

"You know the windswept ponytail look doesn't exactly bring out your best features," said Alicia.

"Lay off, Alicia. Katie can be a tomboy if she wants too."

"I'm just saying…"

Katie, however, was a bit disturbed by Alicia's comment. "Do you think Cedric won't like me if I'm not really pretty?"

Alicia sighed. "I can't say either way. But he's a very handsome boy, and handsome boys generally like pretty girls."

"Oh, Ali, you're just saying that because of Roger Davies."

"Am not!"

"You have to admit they have a lot in common, though," said Katie, being glad that she could tease her friends for a change, instead of being the brunt of the jokes herself, "with that whole tall, dark and handsome thing…"

"Not to mention that they're both Quidditch captains…"

"Oh shut it, you two," said Alicia, a blush rising to her face. "Just because I have high standards…"

"Too high," said Angelina.

"Oh, and you'll take whatever bloke rolls around, will you? Do you fancy a go with Percy?" Alicia retorted.

"No way!"

"Then you're not one to talk, are you?" Alicia demanded.

"How about Lee Jordan?" Katie asked. "I hear how he's always commentating about you: 'And there's Johnson with the Quaffle, Johnson, the most talented and beautiful of the Gryffindor Chasers. Marry me, Angelina! I know you're still single, Fred told me!"

Now it was Angelina's turn to blush as Alicia snorted into her porridge.

"I knew you ladies couldn't help but talk about me," said Fred.

"Morning," said Angelina, still red in the face as the twins sat next to them.

"Salutations, o most 'talented and beautiful of the Gryffindor Chasers,'" responded George.

"Please don't tell me you heard all that," Angelina grumbled.

"But of course," Fred replied with a grin.

Angelina turned a deeper shade of scarlet and lowered her head so close to her bowl of cereal that if it'd been any closer, Katie would have sworn she was trying to drown herself in her milk. The rest of the group chatted animatedly through breakfast. After a few quiet moments (which were quite out of character) Angelina allowed herself to be swept back into the lively conversation. When Angelina and Alicia had finished, Katie joined them as they bade farewell to Fred, George and Lee then started off towards the entrance hall.

As Katie crossed the Great Hall in the wake of her friends, she could feel the spring in her step. In only a few hours, she would be meeting with Cedric in Hogsmeade! She felt so light, it was as if she was walking on air. Then a thought struck her.

"Oh no!" exclaimed Katie as her whole body went rigid.

"What?" asked her friends in unison as they turned back to look at her.

"I forgot my gold up in Gryffindor Tower!" Katie groaned as she started to walk again.

"Oh, well…" Alicia started.

"It's okay. I'll go run up and get it, you two go on ahead and I'll meet you at the Three Broomsticks."

"We can come with you," offered Angelina as they stepped into the entrance hall.

"No, it's okay. I'll be with you in a jiffy," replied Katie.

Angelina shrugged. "Okay."

"We'll see you, then," said Alicia, waving her off.

Katie turned and bounded up the grand marble staircase. She sped along second-floor corridor before turning into a tightly-spiraling staircase, coming out on the fourth floor, streaking around a corner and up yet another stair and jumping the vanishing step. She was getting exhausted. At Oliver had never required as much physical training as her Muggle football coaches. They had been downright brutal, but at least her first year here she hadn't been quite as winded as she was now. Maybe she should have stuck with it over the summer…

All thoughts were blown from her mind, however, as she collided with something rather firm. There was a crash as she and whoever she had just run fell over onto one of Hogwarts' many suits of armor. Then, all she saw was black.

"Katie…oh, please wake up, Katie!"

Someone with a deep voice was shaking her gently by the shoulders. She mumbled something incoherent as her eyes slowly opened. Her attention immediately went to the nasty throbbing sensation at the back of her head. The face of Oliver Wood filled her vision.

"Oliver?"

"Are you okay?"

"Head's a little sore," she admitted, sitting up and placing her hand gently on the part of her skull that was pulsing madly. She winced. It was very tender.

"Well, I'd say so, after getting clobbered by a steel helmet!" he exclaimed.

He held up the suit of armor's helmet for her to see; there was a bit of a dent in it.

"Woops," said Katie sheepishly.

"Up you get," Oliver said, offering her his hand.

Katie took it and he hoisted her from the floor. As soon as that was done, he pulled out his wand, swept it at the pieces of armor strewn across the landing and called, "_Reparo_!" Shin guards, chest plate, and gauntlets all flew up and back into place. Once it was finished, Oliver fixed the helmet in its place.

"Thanks," said Katie.

"What the blazes were you doing, Bell?" Oliver asked, stepping back and admiring his handiwork.

"Just, um, running up to the tower."

"You were going so fast, I almost thought you were flying!"

"Yeah, I—"

"Just watch where you're going next time," he said, glancing at her before starting down the stairs, "I can't have my Chasers getting injured before our first match!"

"Yessir," Katie answered obediently to his retreating back.

Shaking her head, she continued up to the tower, though at a slower pace and being very mindful not to run into anyone. She could have run into Snape and he probably would've found ways to take a hundred points from Gryffindor. She could just hear his oily voice saying "Rudeness to a Professor, that's twenty points…Reckless behavior, that's thirty points…Now, now, destroying school property, I believe that's another fifty points from Gryffindor..."

She shuddered at the thought. If she had been in Slytherin, Katie might have been one of Professor Snape's favorite students. But because she had ended up in Gryffindor, her gift with potions went without praise. Rather, he seemed to consider her one of the seven horsemen and glared at her sourly from behind his curtain of greasy black hair when he could find no fault with her brew. This train of thought occupied her until she reached Gryffindor Tower.

The common room and dormitories were far less crowded than usual occupied by only first and second years, as well as a very distraught-looking Harry. She attempted to smile at him kindly, but he seemed not to have seen her. Once in her dorm, she found her mother's necklace waiting on her bed side table with a short note from Hagrid apologizing about the wild Niffler's behavior, and saying that "Daffodil" would be quite well-trained. Katie shook her head at the odd choice of name as she clasped her mother's necklace around her neck once more. Then, she found her pouch of Galleons, Sickles and Knuts and stuffed it into her pocket.

After an uneventful trip back to ground level, Katie stood in the dwindling line of students in the entrance hall. Filch leered at each student in turn as they said their name, then looked down his long roll of parchment and ticked their name off with a scowl. When it came Katie's turn came, Filch scrutinized her quite suspiciously. Other students might have withered under his gaze, but Katie stared him squarely in the eye as she announced her name. She was used to this unusually harsh stare; it was the one Filch reserved for the Weasley twins, and anyone with whom they had close contact. Finally, Filch frowned, being able to find nothing wrong with her, and shooed her out the door as he put quill to parchment. Katie took a large gulp of fresh, late autumn air when she stepped out of the castle, and headed down to the castle.

The grounds were a bit muddy from the previous week's rain, but nonetheless pleasant. Katie could see Hagrid beginning to prepare the gigantic pumpkins in the patch next to his hut. It was rumored that he used engorgement charms on them, even though he had been expelled from Hogwarts in his third year. No one had yet figured how he was still able to cast magic. When she reached the gates with the statues of winged boars, her stomach plummeted despite her jovial mood. Two dementors, cloaked and hooded in a mass of dark, molding robes, flanked the way. Taking a deep breath, she walked as calmly as she could up to them. Both of them turned their heads, and it seemed to Katie they were both focusing whatever they had for eyes directly on her. She could feel all the happiness and excitement she had felt about this day bleed from her as if a drain had been unstopped. She closed her eyes as she passed between them, trying not to pay attention to the way her insides were freezing. She heard the little girl—her younger self start to cry again. Katie broke into a run, cold sweat starting to bead on her face, only slowing when the crying had stopped and the sick feeling in her stomach had lessened.

As she entered the town, her insides began to unclench and her mind cleared. She took deep breaths to calm herself and focused on the sights and sounds of Hogsmeade. Tendrils of smoke drifted up from the various shops and the coins in her money bag jangled merrily as she walked down the High Street. She said hello to a couple fourth year Ravenclaws she knew as they exited (and she entered) the Three Broomsticks. The cozy Hogsmeade watering hole was brightly lit and packed as ever when Katie stepped into it. She loosed her cloak from around her body as the warmth of the crowded establishment wrapped itself around her. She stood on tip-toe briefly until she spotted Angelina and Alicia hailing her from a small table off to one side. Katie nodded at them in recognition, then made her way to the bar to order a Butterbeer from the voluptuous owner, Madam Rosmerta. At last, she sat down with her friends and took her first swig. She immediately felt her insides begin to thaw again.

"What took you so long?" Alicia asked.

"I ran into Oliver," responded Katie lightly, "literally. And smashed that old suit of armor just below the fifth floor. Again."

"Ah…to be graceful as a swan—" Angelina started.

Katie winced. "Don't remind me, and you're starting to sound like the twins."

Angelina immediately shut her mouth. Alicia snickered.

"Honestly Katie," Alicia said as she avoided Angelina's glare, "I don't know how you ever got into sports when you're so clumsy."

"I'm coordinated," Katie replied, "that doesn't mean I'm graceful."

"Here here!" called Angelina.

Katie smiled as they all clinked bottles in a toast.

After a while, Angelina and Alicia wanted to get out and shop. Katie was uneager to leave the warm haven of the Three Broomsticks, but she also knew her friends wanted get out with her for a while before her rendezvous with Cedric. And so the three of them wound their way out of the cozy canteen and stepped out onto the muddy high street. Katie tried to keep her mind on her friends and their jokes as they visited Scrivenshaft's. Alicia already needed more parchment, a fact which horrified Angelina.

"We're only two months into the year!" she blurted out. "How can you possibly have run out?"

"I haven't run out, I'm just getting low, and it's because I've already begun making study sheets for the end of the year," Alicia responded, glancing longingly at a beautiful eagle-feather quill.

"She's absoruddylutely _insane_," Angelina muttered quietly to Katie, who was making it appear as if she was looking at color-changing ink. In reality, her mind was fixed on one o'clock. As she covertly peeked at her watch every now and again, the minutes seemed to be passing ever more slowly.

But finally, the appointed hour did dawn. Katie said goodbye to her friends as they walked out of the Hogsmeade branch of Quality Quidditch Supplies. Both older girls wished her luck, and headed down to Honeydukes as Katie turned the other way for Zonko's. She could see the joke shop's weathered sign swinging over the door just ahead, but no Cedric. Walking up to the door, she peered inside at all the students crowding around shelves and cases. She spotted to the Weasley twins huddled with their heads together in a corner, with Lee Jordan standing a little ways away, surveying some very colourful boxes on a nearby shelf. He caught her eye and waved. Katie returned it, then turned away. It didn't appear that Cedric was inside, either. Shrugging and telling herself that she would be happy to wait, she went outside and leaned against the window of the brightly-lit front display.

The minutes ticked even slower, if that was possible, as when she had been waiting to come here in the first place. She looked at the ominous clouds rolling in from the horizon. Two minutes passed. She scanned the street up and down, looking for any trace of him. Five minutes…seven minutes…ten. She felt like a tennis fan, looking back and forth and back and forth and back… She checked her watch. Fifteen long, torturous minutes had passed since she was supposed to have met Cedric. Up until now, she had been thinking of all the things that could have happened to make him just a little late. Maybe he had lost track of time, maybe the errand was taking longer than he had thought. He hadn't even said what the errand was, after all. Maybe it was something very complex, something he had to go to several stores for. But now her mind began to think horrible things. More specifically, that she was being stood up. Maybe this was some cruel joke. Maybe he had noticed how many times she had tried to talk to him and how many times she had looked longingly at the Hufflepuff table. Another part of her mind firmly refused that Cedric would do such a thing. He was a Hufflepuff, after all, a house known for its fairness. And he had always been such a gentleman before… Why would he have told her about his father, and been so kind to her when she had broke down, if he only wanted to hurt her? But after twenty minutes had passed, Fred, George and Lee came out of the store.

"Hey, Kates," said Fred, "What's the deal?"

"Been Confunded or something?" asked George.

Katie shook her head. "I was waiting for…someone, but they haven't shown up."

The twins looked at her concernedly, as if she was their own little sister. For all their pranks and mischief, they could be caring nonetheless.

"Come on," said Fred, throwing an arm around her shoulders, "Let's go to Honeydukes."

"But—"

"Whoever you're waiting for can find us there," said George, copying his bother and leaving Katie sandwiched between them.

"But—"

"Well, that's settled, then," Fred said as he strode off, pulling Katie with him.

Katie made only feeble attempts to resist. The fact of the matter was that she was too numb to care. The boy of her dreams had just pulled off her greatest nightmare and she wasn't about to forget it in a hurry. She trudged along between the twins, with Lee pulling up the rear as they walked down the High Street to Honeydukes. Katie's nose met the smell of sweets with less enthusiasm than ever before. If she'd had her druthers, she would rather puke than eat candy at the moment. She let herself fall into such a distemper that she frowned disapprovingly at the warm and welcoming lights that filled the shop and all the students blissfully picking through Honeydukes vast wealth of confections.

"Hey, Katie," said Lee, pointing to a shelf. "Look! They've got a great deal on Chocoballs!"

Katie glared at the large glass jar he was pointing at. Chocoballs. Cedric's favourite. Just what—and who—she _didn't_ want to be thinking about at that particular moment. She tried not to scowl at Lee for drawing her attention to them—she'd already taken her anger out on one innocent bystander this year.

"Katie!"

Katie froze. Had she just imagined hearing that voice?

"Katie!"

There it was again. Was it possible to have repeat hallucinations? She turned around. There was Cedric, pushing through the crowd towards her, clutching a bag in his hand, his cheeks flushed. Katie turned back to Lee.

"Give us five, Lee," she said with a grin.

"Hi Katie!" said Cedric, coming to her side. "I'm really sorry. It took way longer than I thought and—"

"Don't worry about it," said Katie jovially. "Care for a Chocoball?"

"Um, well, I was going to get some…" he started.

"I still owe you for that Chocolate Frog," Katie reminded him.

"Nonsense!"

"I'm not taking no for an answer, Cedric. You're late, so I get to buy you Chocoballs if I want to."

"So this is the bloke you were waiting for?" Lee asked, raising an eyebrow at Katie as he handed her the sweets.

"This is Cedric Diggory," Katie said, "I don't know if any of you've met?"

"Don't believe we have," said George, pushing his way up in front of the slightly bewildered Hufflepuff. "_Enchanté, Monsieur_."

Fred bumped his brother out of the way. "Allow me to introduce us. I am Gred, and this is my brother, Forge."

"And if we hear about you doing _anything_ to Katie—"

"That's enough, George!" Katie interrupted. Cedric appeared slightly nervous.

"Well, we'll be off then," said Lee, grabbing both his friends by the back of their cloaks.

Fred and George gave Cedric a warning look.

"_Come on, guys!"_ Lee added in a pleading hiss. The twins grinned at each other, then simultaneously tackled Lee to the floor.

"Ow! Gerroff!" came Lee's muffled voice from beneath them

Katie nudged Cedric and they turned away.

"Sorry about them. They're a little, um, over the top," she said.

"I noticed," Cedric replied dryly.

"So, anything you wanted to buy here? And don't say Chocoballs."

Cedric closed his mouth and grinned. "I can't weasel my way out of this, can I?"

"Nope," responded Katie cheerfully, "I've been in the same situation with Angelina and Alicia plenty of times, so don't even try."

"I'll take your word for it."

Cedric glanced around at the tall shelves lined with all manner of Magical and Muggle sweets alike. They spent the better part of an hour there, walking out with bags filled with Sugar Quills, Fizzing Whizbees, nougat, Exploding Bon-Bons, Pumpkin Pasties and some of Honeydukes famous chocolate. Katie's mood had completely reverted back to butterflies-in-the-stomach excited. She could forgive Cedric anything, especially when he had such a good excuse.

"Here," she said, holding out her package of Chocoballs to him. "Don't forget these."

"I wish I could've," he said with a grin. "You're too good for me, Miss Bell."

"Consider us even," Katie responded. "And please don't call me by my last name. Only Professors and Oliver do that."

"Wood—I mean Oliver—calls you by your last name?"

Katie shrugged. "See? You do it, too. I guess it's just a guy thing."

"Guess it is," Cedric mused.

"It's weird, like boys are scared of being too close to their mates," Katie thought aloud as they both took a seat on a bench outside of the post office.

"Girls are almost too close with their friends, though," said Cedric. "It seems like you can read one another's minds sometimes. That's scary to us blokes."

"We understand each other so well because we actually _talk_ about things. You blokes seem like you're always have to act tough. But our way, when something happens, we already have the other gal's background and know how she's going to react. It can get a bit much at times, though."

"You seem to have thought about this a lot," said Cedric with a laugh.

Katie smiled as her heart skipped a beat. She loved being able to make Cedric laugh.

"Not really. I've just spent enough time with both sexes to get how each one works."

"Well, you certainly come across as pretty smart about it all."

"Thanks."

There was a slightly awkward silence as they both stared at the people traversing the High Street. Cedric pulled out the bag of Chocoballs.

"Do you want one?" he asked as he opened it.

"I told you, they're yours."

"Yes. I know that. And I'm offering one to you, as one does when they have something," he finished sarcastically.

"Well, then I suppose I shall have to accept, as one does when one is offered something as scrumptious as a Chocoball," Katie replied in similar fashion, taking one and popping it in her mouth. She felt her extremities become just a bit warmer as she bit down on the delicious chocolate. Not quite as revitalizing as after the dementor on the train, but still effective. Then, she remembered the dementors flanking the school gates, and hearing her own little self crying…

"Cedric?" she asked thickly.

"Mm?"

"Wha—" she swallowed the sweet. "What happened to you when the dementor came?"

Cedric shrugged, finishing his Chocoball as well. "It was cold…and it felt like someone was squeezing my insides…"

Katie looked at him expectantly. There had to be something else. Were she and Harry the only ones that couldn't take the dementors?

"Don't worry about it, Katie," he said, catching her look. "Dad says Dementors make you go through the worst things in your life and, well, I guess I just haven't had a whole lot of bad things happen to me."

Katie nodded, but didn't feel all that reassured.

"Just don't think about them," said Cedric, again reading her expression quite accurately. "Let's talk about something else. What do you do in your free time? Over the holidays and such?"

"Well, we never really go anywhere, Da being a postman and all," said Katie, thinking, "I try to find a pick-up Quidditch game whenever I can…"

"Tell me something I don't know."

"Well, I play this Muggle sport, football, once in a while…"

"The one where they kick the Quaffle, er, ball around?"

"Yeah."

"Anything else?"

"Well, I like to cook sometimes."

"Because your dad's so bad at it?"

"Well, that's why I started, but I really like it, now. They have these shows on television—do you know what that is?"

Cedric nodded.

"So they have these shows and they tell you how to cook things. And I like coming up with things on my own, you know, getting ideas and trying it out. I think that's why Potions is my best class."

"Really? I thought all Gryffindors…um…well, I'd heard almost all of them were really bad…"

"Hogwarts myth," Katie said.

Cedric smiled. "There seems to be a lot of those."

"Like Hufflepuffs are all a bunch of duffers?" Katie teased.

Cedric's smile widened. "Cheeky little thing, aren't you?"

Katie grinned back, "I do my best."

He checked his watch. "I suppose you've already stopped in at the Three Broomsticks?"

"Yes, but I don't mind going back" she replied quickly. Catching herself, she added casually, "I mean, it's not a big deal."

"I'd like that," he said, standing up, "I haven't got a chance yet."

"So, what do you do in your free time?" Katie asked, rising to follow Cedric.

"Oh, lots of things…"

Katie gave him a playful glare to let him know he couldn't get away with being vague. He caught her eye and smirked.

"Well, I like to dance," he said sheepishly.

Katie raised an eyebrow at him. "Really?"

"Yeah. Mom insisted on teaching me when I was little. I fought her every step of the way. It was horrible, having to tell my mates I was going to dance class when they were out having dungbomb wars, but Mom said it was something that I'd appreciate later in life."

Cedric, ever the gentleman, opened the door to the Three Broomsticks and motioned for Katie to enter first. She thanked him shyly as she stepped past him into the busy pub. She led the way up to the bar, where Madam Rosmerta halted her conversation with a attractive-looking wizard long enough to fill their order of two Butterbeers. Katie wasn't really that thirsty, but she knew it would be awkward if she just sat there and watched Cedric drink.

"So, have you started to appreciate it yet?" she asked him.

He shrugged. "Maybe. Some girls seem to find it attractive," he said.

Katie was surprised by this comment at first, but then noticed the searching look in his eye. He wanted to see her reaction, but she didn't have to give him one. Instead, she cracked a smile.

"They do?" she asked coyly.

He shrugged again. Katie guessed he was trying to remain casual.

"Some. I don't really get to do it very often, though."

"I suppose there really isn't an opportunity out here," Katie sympathized.

"I always get to over the holidays, though," said Cedric. "We always host or go to other parties around Christmas, so there's plenty of time then. Mom always makes me dance with her at least once."

"I've never been very graceful," Katie admitted.

"Well, I could teach you sometime…" Cedric offered.

"Oh…no, thanks. I mean, I wouldn't want to waste your time," Katie responded hurriedly.

"I guarantee, if you can play sports—especially Muggle ones—" he added as she opened her mouth to protest that Quidditch really didn't involve very much physical activity, "you can dance."

"Well, I don't—" she started.

"Come on," he pleaded.

Katie drained the last of her Butterbeer to give herself time to think. She had to be insane for even considering this. Especially after she had just run into someone and toppled a suit of armor earlier that day. That was it. She was out of her mind. She'd just have to politely say no. But when she put the empty bottle down, she found herself mesmerized by his beautiful gray eyes.

"Um, I guess," she heard herself saying, as if from across the room.

"I can give you a quick lesson right now, then we should head back up to the castle," he said.

"Ri-Right now?" Katie gasped.

"You're not weaseling your way out of this one!" Cedric exclaimed gleefully.

Katie groaned. She'd done herself in this time.

"It's not going to be that bad," he reassured her as they stepped out onto the High Street once again.

"Can we at least go someplace where no one will laugh at me?" asked Katie

"No one's going to laugh at you."

"_Please_," she pleaded.

"Oh, alright," he relented. He headed off towards the lonely road leading to the Shrieking Shack.

After the road took a bend and they were out of sight of the main road, Cedric stopped. Finding the least muddy patch of dead grass possible, he set down his bags. Katie followed suit.

"Okay. Waltz first, because it's the easiest. All you have to do is count to three."

"I don't think I can do that," said Katie with mock disappointment.

Cedric shot her what would have been a dirty look except for the grin tugging at the corners of his mouth.

"Now, we stand like this…"

He swept her into his arms with considerable speed and grace. Katie jumped as he place his hand on the small of her back.

"This arm up here…" he said, guiding her left hand up to his neck.

Katie's nerves were going crazy. Every ounce of her brain was on his hand on her back, and the feel of her hand against the warm, smooth skin of his neck. She had to remind herself to breathe.

"Now, I take this hand," he said, taking her right hand in his left.

Again, she almost jumped as her senses started buzzing wildly.

"Arms up!" he said, raising their joined hands up to shoulder height and bringing the hand on her back up almost to her arm pit. He looked down. "Feet together."

Katie immediately jumped to bring her feet side-by-side.

"Now, just get the feel of this position," said Cedric calmly. "You're not going to have to do anything but move your feet, okay?"

Katie nodded. Her heart was racing. And she knew it wouldn't be long before she fell over; she wasn't used to standing up this straight. The benefit, however, of finally standing erect, was that Cedric wasn't too much taller than she was. She only had to tilt her head a little to look into those gorgeous eyes…

"We'll just do a simple box step for now," Cedric said, breaking her train of thought. "Step straight back on your right foot, and I'll step with my left. Okay?"

Katie only nodded. Step back. Right foot. It sounded easy enough.

"Ready…and…go."

Cedric pushed her forward gently with his hands, and stepped towards her. Katie responded by taking a huge step back and losing her balance. It was only Cedric's strong grip on her that prevented her from becoming a muddy heap in the road.

"Steady now..." he said as she righted herself while going pink in the face. "That was alright, just not so big a step. Let's try again."

Katie nodded.

"Okay. Ready and go."

Katie was more prepared for his subtle push this time and stepped back only as far as she could keep on her feet.

"Good. Now the second move is to the right. No, sorry, _my_ right, your _left_. After the step back with your right foot, you step to the side with your left foot and then bring your right foot up to it. Got it?"

"Okay," said Katie hesitantly.

"I'm going to be guiding you with my hands, so if you ever need to know what you're supposed to be doing, just follow my hands."

"Right."

"Okay. Now, starting with the step back…ready and go."

Katie did even better on the backwards step this time, but hurried the sidestep and then crossed her right foot over.

"Okay, let's try that again," said Cedric after she had untangled her feet. "It's real easy, just one, two, three."

"Sorry," said Katie, blushing quite profusely now.

"It's okay. You should have seen me at first," he added with a grin.

Katie couldn't help but smile back. It was a wonderful feeling, being this close to him. She could smell his deodorant, and the Butterbeer on his breath…

"Once again," Cedric interrupted her thoughts once more. "Ready and go."

They stepped one, two, three together and came to a halt.

"Very good. Now we just do the same thing, only stepping forward and to the other side, like a box. _Guess what it's called?_" he added sarcastically.

Katie rolled her eyes. Her arms were staring to hurt, staying up and rigid like this for a while, but she did her best to ignore it. She was a Chaser, after all, and needed strong arms. Maybe she should start doing push-ups to build muscle?

"Ready and go," came the familiar cue.

Katie concentrated on what she was doing and found that, as Cedric had said, it really was quite easy. When they finished the first box, Cedric said to keep going. He quietly counted "one, two, thee" under his breath for her as they traced the box with their feet again and again. Then, Cedric pushed her lightly to the right with his hands. Katie, remembering what he had said earlier about him guiding her, rotated (despite a slight stumble) in the indicated direction and kept stepping.

"Good," said Cedric with a smile. "We'll just take it around this road."

One, two, three. One, two, three. Katie and Cedric waltzed their way in a circle around the bend in the road. Katie was positively elated. Here she was, being taught to dance by the cutest boy in school, one hand on his neck and the other clasped in his own. The sight and smell of him filled her mind. She took mental pictures she was sure she would treasure forever, of Cedric's face as he guided her around this secluded space, just the two of them. Katie had never been happier.

When they finally came back to where their bags sat, Cedric took his right hand from her back, lifted his other above her head. Katie followed the motions, and found herself spinning, her arm extending as she swirled away from him, then came to a halt, slightly breathless. Cedric smiled and bowed to her. Katie at first bowed back, then remembered she was supposed to curtsy, and ended up doing a very wobbly hybrid of the two.

"See? It's pretty easy," Cedric said, as he finally released her hand.

"At least I didn't have to think about where we were going," Katie admitted.

Cedric laughed. "No, that's my job. You're just there to enjoy the ride and look pretty. That's how waltzing works."

"I think it's a genius idea," she replied with a smile. "If only life worked that way…"

"Don't go getting ideas," he warned, though returning her smile as he picked up his bags and handed Katie hers. "Well, we'd better get back to the castle."

"Okay," said Katie, trying not to let her reluctance be detectable in her voice. "Thanks for the lesson."

"You did well," he complimented.

"I had a good teacher," she replied.

Cedric blushed. "Katie, I—"

"What?" she asked, her heart skipping a beat.

"I think you'd be a really good dancer," he said.

"Oh," Katie wasn't sure whether to elated or depressed, "Right. Well, let's get back. I don't want to miss the feast!"

Cedric nodded and fell into step with her as they strolled down the muddy lane back to Hogsmeade.


	6. All Hallows Eve

By the time Katie got back to Hogwarts, she had decided to be elated. The day with Cedric had gone wonderfully, except for the slight disorder in their meeting. She couldn't remember a better day in her life, let alone a better Halloween. She and Cedric talked all the way up to the castle. Rather, he had done most of the talking, as she kept pressing him to explain the different styles of dance. There was more variety than she had ever dreamed.

The only difficult part had come when they passed the dementors that flanked the gates. Katie felt like, once again, they were focusing their hooded faces on her, trying to suck out all the joy she felt at being with Cedric for half a day. Cedric looked at her concernedly as her face paled and she fought to ignore the now-familiar crying. Katie desperately wanted to throw herself into his arms, to be comforted with a warm hug. She managed to stubbornly fight the urge, and instead forced a taut smile to her lips. Cedric offered her another Chocoball, but she declined. It was hard to eat right after a run-in with dementors, no matter how much the chocolate helped.

When they reached the entrance hall, each assured the other that it had been a wonderful time and that they should do something else soon. After a parting handshake (which made Katie's stomach leap all over again), they parted to go to their separate common rooms to drop off their purchases before the feast. Katie ran the wonderful afternoon through her mind again and again as she made the long, serpentine trek to Gryffindor Tower.

As soon as she stepped into the warm Gryffindor common room, Angelina and Alicia bounded up to her.

"How'd it go?"

"Was he nice?"

"What did you do?"

"Does Fred have to hurt him?"

Katie shook her head. "Wait, how do you know about that?"

"What?" asked Angelina "The Weasleys threatening him? Well—"

"Let's just say we know how to make Lee talk," Alicia interrupted.

Katie looked from one to the other. It felt like there was something else there. Knowing that she would never pry it out of them, she gave up and continued.

"Okay. Second question: how much _do_ you know?"

Angelina shot her a sideways glance. "Well, we know that he almost stood you up—"

"He did not," immediately protested Katie in Cedric's defense, "The errand he was running for his mum took longer than he thought."

"Whatever," said Angelina, glazing over the small discrepancy.

"So you two met in Honeydukes, Fred and George introduced themselves, acted like right berks—"

"I don't know if that's entirely fair, Ali."

Alicia shot her a glance. "May I continue?" she asked, with just a hint of annoyance.

Angelina rolled her eyes and motioned for her to go on.

"Fred and George pulled the protective older brother act, Lee dragged them away, and that's all we know. So what happened?"

Katie launched into the story of her highly enjoyable day. They oohed and giggled at various points. Alicia even let forth a wishful sigh as Katie recounted her impromptu dance lesson.

"I'm not sure if I believe you," said Angelina, crossing her arms and leaning back into her chair.

"Fine," said Katie, standing up. She stood in front of Angelina and offered her hand. "May I have this dance?"

"No way," said Angelina. "I am _not_ dancing in the middle of the common room. You'll knock something over!"

"Geez, Ange!" Alicia exclaimed. "Have a little faith in your friends, will you?"

"Well, she does!" Angelina retorted.

Katie closed her eyes and forced herself to imagine Cedric was there. Once she'd gotten her body into the approximate position, she began to waltz around in a tight circle around their chairs. The steps came just as natural as they had earlier, flowing from one movement to the next without thought.

"Blimey!" said Angelina in awe as Katie twirled to a halt as smoothly as she could, ending in a dramatic pose with arms outstretched.

"Guess he really is a dance instructor," Alicia grinned.

"I never would've thought it possible," said Angelina, "You looked almost…_graceful_ for a minute there, Kates."

Katie shot her disbelieving friend a dirty look. "Well, I guess I'm not inviting _you_ to any dances."

"See if I care," Angelina responded, unmoved. "There are never any dances to go to anyway."

"Honestly, you are such a spoilsport, Ange!" Alicia scolded.

"Anyway," said Katie, "What did you two do after I left you?"

"Shopped a little, met up with Lee and tortured him into telling us all he knew…" said Angelina with a smirk at Alicia.

"And hung out with the Weasleys for a _long_ time…" added Alicia, returning Angelina's smirk.

"Then ended up back here," Angelina finished anticlimactically.

"Well, thanks for all the details," Katie remarked sarcastically.

Alicia checked her watch. "We should head down to the Great Hall pretty soon. Wouldn't want to miss the feast!"

Angelina groaned. "Ugh, how can you be thinking about food after all that?" she whined.

"I _told_ you not to eat half your chocolate," Alicia admonished.

"I know…" Angelina moaned. "But it was just so good…"

Alicia and Katie shared a knowing look. Angelina could tuck into all sorts of food like nobody's business, but sweets were her huge weakness. Very few Hogsmeade weekends went by without her overdosing on something, from Cockroach Clusters to Fizzing Whizbees. This time it was particularly detrimental, since she would be skimping on the Halloween feast as opposed to a normal supper. The three fell into the ever-growing stream of students heading out of the portrait hole and down to the Great Hall.

When they entered the cathedral-like hall, they found it decorated with hundreds and hundreds of candle-filled pumpkins, from pint-sized to the enormous ones Katie had seen Hagrid tending to earlier. Bright orange streamers rippled with the breeze created by the cloud of live bats that flitted around the hall beneath the enchanted ceiling, which had become dark and stormy. The three friends sat together at the Gryffindor table. Fred, George and Lee took seats across from the girls, while Katie was joined on her other side by Oliver, with Percy straight across.

"I trust you all had a good time in Hogsmeade?" Percy asked with his nose up in the air.

"Oh no, no fun at all in Hogsmeade," Angelina deadpanned, "all that time away from our OWL work was just _horrible_. I feel like I'll never catch up now!"

"I'm glad you realize how important your studies are," said Percy, readjusting his horn-rimmed glasses, "I'm sure you could set up a study session for the next Hogsmeade trip."

Katie bit her lip to keep from laughing. She knew Angelina was joking, but Percy was perfectly oblivious. She glanced at Alicia and saw she had bit her hand to keep from bursting with laughter. Looking back at Percy, she saw he had now moved on to a conversation with the seventh year on his other side.

"You know," said Alicia, "I can't think of a better way to spend Halloween."

"Me neither," Katie agreed. She shared a grin with her friends as they caught her double meaning.

"They should've done this last year," said Lee.

"I wonder who decides when we get to go?" Angelina mused.

"Probably Dumbledore," Fred answered her.

"That might be why they never make much sense," she replied.

Katie smiled at the idea of Dumbledore in his office, throwing darts at a calendar to decide which weekends would be Hogsmeade visits. Then it occurred to her that Dumbledore was a pureblood wizard and might not even know what darts were.

"I think Dumbledore is an exceptional wizard!" announced Alicia.

"That doesn't mean he has to make sense," insisted Lee.

"Remember what Harry told us, Fred, about Dumbledore wanting socks for Christmas?"

The other twin nodded. "He can have the next pair Mum knits me, if he wants."

"I'm sure your mother wouldn't like to catch wind of that," Angelina joked.

"Aww let her. I've got enough jumpers and socks to fill my trunk."

The hall quieted as Dumbledore himself rose from the head table and lightly clapped his hands together.

"A Happy Halloween to you all!" he said in his soft voice that somehow still filled the hall. "I'm sure the older students had a pleasant time in Hogsmeade, and I trust you did not fill yourself too much on sweets."

A few snorts and giggles rose throughout the hall at this remark. Angelina gripped her stomach and groaned quietly. Oliver looked back to her, concernedly. Katie caught his eye and mouthed "She's okay." That seemed to satisfy him, because he turned back.

"I am just as confident that our younger students enjoyed a day of celebrating with their friends. And now, enough of an old man's rambling. Enjoy the feast!"

As he raised his hands, the golden platters and bowls magically filled themselves with dish after mouth-watering dish, all steaming hot. Katie immediately placed a large helping of roast beef onto her plate before reaching quick as lightning to nab a soft, buttery roll.

"Pass the pumpkin juice, please," she said to Oliver, nudging him as he set down a large bowl of mashed potatoes. She took a large bite of her roll as he reached down the table for the large flagon and passed it back to her.

"Tanks," she said thickly around her mouthful of food.

Oliver chuckled. Katie looked rather cute with her cheeks puffed out like a chipmunk. "Didn't get enough to eat in Hogsmeade?" he inquired with an amused smile.

Katie shot him a dirty look as she struggled to swallow. "Are you always telling me that a Quidditch player needs to eat?"

Wood opened his mouth then closed it again. Katie looked at him triumphantly.

"But that doesn't mean you get to skip meals," he added after she had gone back to her food.

"I didn't!" she protested.

Oliver looked at her skeptically. "Well, from the way you're eating—"

"You expect sugar quills to stick to the ribs, do you?" Katie queried. She was a bit frustrated that she was being treated like a child who didn't eat their vegetables.

"I don't suppose dance lessons had anything to do with it, either?" Angelina asked quietly. Katie covertly stomped on her friend's foot underneath the table and prayed that Oliver hadn't heard.

"Dance lessons?"

Katie's stomach plummeted. She didn't want to start telling about her date with Cedric. Someone else was bound to overhear. The way news—especially secrets and scandals—traveled in this school, a good lot of the students would already know about her date with Cedric. That she had been prepared for, but the last thing she wanted was for word of their private dance lesson to get out. On the other hand, she couldn't just _lie_ to Wood, could she?

"Um, yeah, dance lessons," Katie mumbled as her mind raced through her options. She quickly settled on a white lie. "Yeah. I had one today. I thought I might try it out. You know, to improve my balance. You know, for, um, Quidditch..."

"Well, I admit that's rather unorthodox…" Oliver commented around a small piece of food which he chewed thoughtfully. "But, you know, it just might work. Who did you say was giving you lessons?"

"Madam Puddifoot," Katie lied outright. She realized that was a bad choice the instant after it left her mouth. Madam Puddifoot's tea shop was quite a popular locale for Hogwarts couples. She would've been managing the store the whole time.

"Really?" he asked curiously.

"She mostly talked to me about it, really. Didn't do much because the shop was so busy," she said quickly. "I knew I should have done it over the summer, so I'd have more time, you know?"

"Yes, that would have been a bit more helpful, I think," said Oliver, going back to his meal.

Katie was glad to tuck into her food as well. If Oliver asked any more questions, she was sure she'd trip up on something. Angelina nudged her surreptitiously. Katie looked up, and then noticed that Alicia was staring at her too.

"Puddifoot?" Alicia mouthed.

Katie shrugged her shoulders and gave her a what-was-I-supposed-to-say look. If anyone noticed this peculiar exchange, they didn't mention it. Rather, the Weasley twins' soon captured the attention of everyone by discussing just what they would like to do to Mr. Filch, who attempted to confiscate half of their Zonko's purchases. Katie was thankful (not for the first time) that she had never been at the wrong end of their pranks.

The feast ended with an entertainment provided by the Hogwarts ghosts. They popped out of the walls and tables to do a bit of formation gliding. Their semitransparent, pearly forms were a beautiful contrast to the inky background of the enchanted ceiling. Peeves, of course, did his best to spoil it by chucking a few pumpkins at an unfortunate group of second year Ravenclaws. Dumbledore smiled serenely at the head table as a glaring Professor McGonagall banished the poltergeist from the hall with a rather powerful spell and Slytherin's Bloody Baron roared after him. The other ghosts, however, seemed unperturbed by this whole incident and kept the show going. Soon afterwards, Nearly Headless Nick, the Gryffindor ghost, had a great success with a reenactment of his own botched beheading. The Gryffindor table in particular erupted into enthusiastic applause as he took a bow with his head lolling off to the side of his partially-severed neck.

As the silvery forms of the ghosts once again disappeared into the walls and floors, Dumbledore rose from his seat once again. Quiet spread through the student body in a wave, and soon all eyes were fixed on the headmaster.

"After such a marvelous feast, I should think that you all are quite tired."

There was a rumble as students assented.

"I hope you enjoyed the Halloween festivities. Unfortunately, all things must pass. Classes start again at the usual hour tomorrow morning. I must, therefore, ask you all to return directly to your dormitories. A pleasant night to you all."

All of the students recognized the dismissal. Loud scraping sounded throughout the hall as students rose, pushing the long wooden benches back across the stone-flagged floor.

"I think I can go into hibernation now," said Alicia as she stood up, stretched, and yawned.

"I can't think of a better way to spend Halloween," said Angelina, patting her stomach.

"I can't believe you not only ate dinner, but _pudding_ too!" Alicia exclaimed.

"What happened to being full of sweets, Ange?" Katie asked with a gleeful smirk.

"Didn't I ever tell you I have a separate stomach specially reserved for Mother's cooking and Hogwarts' feasts?" Angelina grinned.

Katie shook her head. "I don't know where you put it all."

The three followed the other Gryffindors out into the entrance hall and up the white marble staircase, on the well-treaded path up to the Fat Lady.

"Katie! Katie!" called a chorus of high voices. Katie turned to see her dorm mates rushing up to her. She cast an apologetic look to Alicia and Angelina, who understood and pressed on.

"Merlin almighty, Katie!" said Chloe.

"What is it?" Katie deadpanned. She smiled inwardly as they all stopped in shock before realizing she was only playing dumb.

"Don't even try to pull that one, missy," Rhea warned.

"You and Cedric Diggory!" Rose exclaimed aloud, almost as if she couldn't believe it.

"Why…How…When did he ask you?" pressed Rhea.

"I'm so happy for you, Katie," Leanne told her, clapping a congratulatory hand on her shoulder.

"You have to tell us _everything_," Chloe said.

"Pity, I don't seem to remember much…"

Rose nudged her playfully in the side. "Come on, Katie!"

"Alright. We met at Honeydukes, sat for a while in front of the post office, and then went to the Three Broomsticks."

"And what happened?" Rhea inquired.

"Nothing."

"Oh, come on, _something_ had to have happened!" said Rose.

"No. We just talked."

"So...so you're not even an item or anything?" Chloe demanded.

"Nope."

"I don't believe it," said Rhea. "You didn't do anything _wrong_, did you?"

"Rhea," Leanne spoke with an admonishing tone of voice, "how do you know they weren't just going as friends?"

Katie appreciated that Leanne had stepped in on her behalf. On the other hand, she didn't like what she had just heard. _Could_ Cedric not have any interest in her? _Were_ they just going to be friends? Katie knew it could be worse. But it also could be much, much better. She disappeared into her own thoughts as they continued up to Gryffindor Tower.

When they reached corridor that ended with the portrait of the Fat Lady, however, they found it jammed with students. The portrait seemed to be closed.

"What's going on?" Rhea voiced the question that was on everyone's mind.

"Let me through, please," came Percy's voice, as he came bustling importantly through the crowd. Katie slipped behind him and followed him up towards the front of the crowd, ducking to the side when she spotted Angelina and Alicia. Percy, however, continued pushing his way through saying, "What's the holdup here? You can't all have forgotten the password—excuse me, I'm Head Boy--"

"What's going on?" Katie asked as she sidled over to Angelina and Alicia.

"We just got here a minute ago," Alicia replied.

A silence fell over the crowd, sweeping back in a wave that started at the front so that a chill seemed to spread down the corridor. They heard Percy say, in a suddenly sharp voice, "Somebody get Professor Dumbledore. Quick."

Katie didn't like the tone in Percy's voice. She had known him over three years, and knew it took a lot to pull his head down from the clouds. People's heads turned; those at the back were standing on tip-toe.

"Great Merlin!" breathed Angelina, herself standing on tip-toe to look around the crowd of rather large sixth year boys in front of them.

"What is it, Ange?" Alicia asked worriedly.

Angelina simply shook her head. "You have to see for yourself," she replied.

A moment later, Professor Dumbledore was there, sweeping toward the portrait; the Gryffindors squeezed together to let him through. Katie took the opportunity to get around the sixth years when Dumbledore swept past her, Alicia and Angelina. When she looked up, she drew in a sharp breath.

"See?" Angelina asked gravely.

The Fat Lady had vanished from her portrait, which had been slashed so viciously that strips of canvas littered the floor; great chunks of it had been torn away completely.

Dumbledore took one quick look at the ruined painting and turned, his eyes somber, to see Professors McGonagall, Lupin and Snape (who, to Katie's annoyance, had pushed her out of the way quite rudely) hurrying toward him.

"We need to find her," said Dumbledore. "Professor McGonagall, please go to Mr. Filch at once and tell him to search every painting in the castle for the Fat Lady."

McGonagall nodded and quickly swept back out through the mass of students.

"You'll be lucky!" said a cackling voice.

It was Peeves the Poltergeist, bobbing over the crowd and looking delighted, as he always did, at the sight of wreckage or worry.

"He better not have—"Angelina started, clenching her fists.

Alicia put her hand on Angelina's and shook her head. She knew this was no time for rash actions. Something was amiss. Katie caught Alicia's glance and nodded. She needed to be ready to help if Angelina snapped.

"What do you mean, Peeves?" said Dumbledore calmly, and Peeves' grin faded a little. He didn't dare taunt Dumbledore. Instead, he adopted an oily voice that was no better than his cackle.

"Ashamed, Your Headship, sir. Doesn't want to be seen. She's a horrible mess. Saw her running through the landscape up on the fourth floor, sir, dodging between the trees. Crying something dreadful," he said happily. "Poor thing," he added unconvincingly.

"Did she say who did it?" said Dumbledore quietly.

"Oh, yes, Professorhead," said Peeves, with the air of one cradling a large bombshell in his arms. "He got very angry when she wouldn't let him in, you see." Peeves flipped over and grinned at Dumbledore from between his own legs. "Nasty temper he's got, that Sirius Black."

A collective gasp issued from the crowd, accompanied by several shrill screams. The Gryffindors panicked. Sirius Black, the wanted murderer, had been in the castle and trying to get into _their_ dorms! Angelina's fists unclenched and dropped to her sides, her mouth agape. Alicia's eyes were opened wide; her pretty complexion was turning a ghostly pale. Katie twitched as she felt every muscle in her body tense up as if an electric current was passing through. Two of the first year girls were crying and screaming hysterically nearby.

"Calm down every one, please," said Dumbledore, raising his hands.

Many of the older students fell silent, but the two first years were still panic-stricken.

"Listen to the Headmaster," ordered Lupin kindly, placing his hands on their shoulders.

The two of them looked at him with tears in their eyes, but obeyed and fell silent.

"My most profuse regrets," Dumbledore spoke calmly, as always. Katie felt just a little calmer, hearing the Headmaster talk with a level head. "I must insist that you return to the Great Hall immediately."

If anyone groaned, it was very quietly. Katie's desire for her usual, soft, four-poster bed had disappeared. In its place was a bundle of nervous energy and her warm, delicious dinner felt like it had turned to lead in her stomach. She was sure the others felt the same.

The corridor slowly emptied as the crowd tore their eyes from the maimed portrait and made the same, serpentine journey back down to the Great Hall. They were joined there ten minutes later by the students from Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin, who all looked extremely confused. Some were wearing their school robes over sets of pajamas.

"The teachers and I need to conduct a thorough search of the castle," Professor Dumbledore told them as Professors McGonagall and Flitwick closed all the doors to the hall. "I'm afraid that, for your own safety, you will have to spend the night here. I want the prefects to stand guard over the entrances to the hall and I am leaving the Head Boy and Girl in charge. Any disturbance should be reported to me immediately," he added to Percy, who was looking immensely proud and important. "Send word with one of the ghosts."

Professor Dumbledore paused, about to leave the hall, and said, "Oh, yes, you'll be needing…"

One casual wave of his wand and the long tables flew to the edged of the hall and stood themselves against the walls; another wave, and the floor was covered with hundred of squashy purple sleeping bags.

"Sleep well," said Professor Dumbledore, closing the door behind him.

The hall immediately began to buzz excitedly; the Gryffindors were telling the rest of the school what had just happened.

"Everyone to their sleeping bags!" shouted Percy. "Come on, now, no more talking! Lights out in ten minutes!"

Katie looked for Cedric, but was disappointed when she couldn't see him in the mass of Hufflepuff students. She would have loved some reassurance from him…

"Over here, Kates," called Alicia.

Katie rose out of her reverie and headed over towards her friends. Angelina, Alicia, Fred, George and Lee were already grabbing some of the purple sleeping bags and arranging them into a circle so they could put their heads together and talk. She took a place between Angelina and Alicia.

"How did he get in?" she asked, sitting on her bag.

"Wouldn't we all like to know?" Alicia responded. She was still rather pale.

"You alright, Alicia?" Lee asked her, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"I'll be alright," she replied, forcing a smile onto her face.

"I can't believe this!" Angelina burst out. "How could he have got in? We're surrounded by dementors!"

Fred and George exchanged a furtive glance. Katie caught it, but Angelina was still too busy fuming. And Alicia wasn't her usual observant self. Maybe she needed to recover some of her mental capacity after that huge shock.

"What do you two know?" Katie asked suspiciously.

George's face twitched ever so slightly after realizing they'd been caught. "Nothing to worry your pretty little head about, Kates," he replied jovially.

Katie crossed her arms. "You never call me 'Kates,'" she told him.

Angelina was suddenly in the conversation as well. "You know something," she said decisively.

"Never!" said Fred.

"We are but two humble—"

"Humble my foot," grumbled Katie.

"Tell us," pressed Alicia.

"Oh, it's nothing, really…" Fred spoke, looking up at the enchanted ceiling to avoid meeting anyone's eyes.

"No it's not. I know that face," Angelina argued.

"You're hiding something," affirmed Katie, "Spit it out."

"Well, let's just say we know some of the secret entrances to this place," said George dismissively, gesturing with his hand.

"Of course you—" Katie started. Then it hit her. "Oh."

"D'you…think he got in that way?" asked Angelina.

"You should tell Dumbledore," Alicia told them. "He might not know about it, and if Sirius tries to get in here again…"

Fred shook his head. "You've got to be mad, woman!"

"Hey!" said Alicia defensively.

"You want us giving away all our secrets?" George inquired bitterly.

"She has a point," Lee spoke quietly. "What if he's using it to get in?"

"Traitor," muttered George.

"Just listen to me!" Lee responded. "I'm not saying you go straight to Dumbledore, but—"

"You there!" Percy called over to them. "Be quiet! I mean it!"

"Stupid blighter," Fred grumbled.

"I think he was adopted," commented George thoughtfully.

"And where else would you find someone with such flamingly red hair?" came a deep voice from behind Katie.

She turned and craned her neck up to see Oliver Wood clutching his own sleeping bag. He smiled and stepped over to between Lee and George.

"Budge over," he said, and laid his bedding down between them.

"To what do we owe this great honor?" asked Fred.

"That featherbrained brother of yours won't leave me alone just because I filled his lovely Penelope in before he did. It's his own fault he was too busy snapping at those Slytherins," Oliver grumbled.

"Any conspiracy theories, Oliver?" Angelina inquired.

"No, and I don't care as long as they don't cancel Quidditch for the second year in a row."

"Typical," George muttered.

"The lights are going out now!" Percy shouted. "I want everyone in their sleeping bags and no more talking!"

There was a rustling as everyone clambered into their sleeping bags. The candles all went out at once.

Alicia casually bumped into Katie. "Necklace!" she whispered.

Katie noticed the veiled glow coming from beneath her robes. Luckily, the others didn't seem to have noticed yet. She quickly unclasped it. The gleaming ceased immediately. Stowing it in her robes pocket, she leaned surreptitiously to Alicia and whispered a quick "thanks."

The only light now came from the silvery ghosts, who were drifting about talking seriously to the prefects, and the enchanted ceiling, which, like the sky outside, was scattered with stars.

"We should do this more often," sighed Katie as she gazed up at the constellations glimmering above her.

"Ye—yeah," replied Angelina while stifling a yawn

"Look! There's Sirius." Katie said, pointing up.

"What!" all of her friends cried, sitting up straight. "Where?"

Percy stopped in his tracks and began striding over to them.

"Not Sirius Black! The _star_. Right there," Katie replied calmly, pointing again to the constellation Canis Major.

"Oh," Angelina said as she flopped back down. "You are so _strange_ sometimes, Kates. 'Look! There's Sirius.' Honestly…"

"Lay off," said Oliver. "I'm glad there's at least two of us _not_ worrying ourselves to death."

"I think the OWL-year stress is just getting to them," joked Katie.

"If you won't _shut up_ I will personally make sure you all get detention for a week!" hissed Percy as he finally reached them.

"Well, sweet dreams to you, too," responded Fred, pulling the sleeping bag over his head.

"Shove off, Perce," George said, before disappearing into his bag as well.

Katie was pretty sure Percy shot them a dirty look, though she couldn't tell because the light was so dim. In any case, he stalked away and resumed his prowling between the sleeping bags, every so often telling people off for talking.

Katie decided that it was about time for her to catch some shut-eye herself. She snuggled deeper into her sleeping bag. Her eyes drooped and she felt herself succumb to her unrealized exhaustion. It had been a long day. First, the anticipation, the waiting. Then the disappointment of feeling stood up. Then the elation when Cedric had finally caught up with her. Her rendezvous with Cedric seemed like ages ago. How could it possibly have been just earlier today? All that plus the shock of finding out a mass murderer had snuck into Hogwarts and tried to get into _her_ House, and it made for one rollercoaster of a day.

"Good night," Katie mumbled as she was enveloped by wonderful sleep.

"Good night, Katie."


	7. Gryffindor versus Hufflepuff

Unfortunately, the teachers' search was fruitless. Sirius Black had escaped from under their noses. The school talked of nothing but Sirius Black for the next few days. The theories about how he entered the castle became wilder and wilder. For Katie, it came to a head in Transfiguration Tuesday afternoon.

"I heard he stole some Polyjuice potion and snuck into the castle that way," whispered Chloe as they all attempted to transfigure their rabbits into slippers.

"But then how would the Fat Lady have known it way him?" Leanne questioned.

"He might have told her," said Chloe defensively.

"If he was smart enough to sneak into the castle, I doubt he'd be stupid enough to go around bragging about who he was," argued Leanne.

"Well I heard that he got snuck in by some Centaurs from the Forbidden Forrest," Rose interjected.

"No way!" said Rhea. "Gavin said his memory was kind of fuzzy on Halloween. I bet Sirius is a Legilimens and used it to possess him!"

Katie, meanwhile, had been distracted and her rabbit had turned a violent shade of magenta. "Can you _please_ stop talking about that _bloody _man for _two seconds_?" she snapped.

"Miss Bell!" Professor McGonagall snapped. "That language is entirely inappropriate for school. Five points from Gryffindor and if I hear you use that word again, it will be ten points and you will be given a detention. Do you understand me?"

Katie bit her lip. She considered that quite unfair, when it had been the other girls who were distracting her.

"I asked you a question, Miss Bell," McGonagall said tersely.

Katie looked back at her defiantly. Why couldn't she be like Snape and actually be nice to the students from her own House? "Yes ma'am," she answered with a hint of defiance.

McGonagall squinted disapprovingly at the small cheek, but continued, "And I would suggest that the rest of you ladies concentrate a bit more on your work as well."

The Fat Lady's ripped canvas had been taken off the wall and replaced with the portrait of Sir Cadogan, a rather pompous and incompetent knight with a fat gray pony he couldn't mount for the weight of his armour. Nobody was very happy with him. Sir Cadogan spent half his time challenging people to duels and thinking up ridiculous passwords, which he changed at least twice a day.

"He's a complete lunatic," Katie heard Seamus Finnigan say angrily to Percy one breakfast. "Can't we get anyone else?"

"None of the other pictures wanted the job," said Percy. "Frightened of what happened the Fat Lady. Sir Cadogan was the only one brave enough to volunteer."

"Don't say that too loud," Katie told Percy.

"If Sir Cadogan heard anyone calling him brave," said Alicia, "he'd probably break down crying."

"No," Angelina argued, "I bet he'd burst with joy. Then we'd have to get _another_ portrait. On the other hand, that might not be such a bad idea…"

"Don't say that!" pleaded Alicia.

"I don't know about you," Katie grumbled, "but I'm sick of being called a 'scallywag' myself."

The weather worsened steadily as the first Quidditch match of the year drew ever nearer. Undaunted, the Gryffindor team was training harder than ever under the eye of Madam Hooch. McGonagall had asked for extra protection for Harry since the incident with Black breaking into the castle—she seemed to think Harry might have been the target. No one on the team was very happy about it, least of all Harry, but they knew they had to do whatever McGonagall wanted if they didn't want Quidditch canceled.

At their final training session before Saturday's match, the wind was gusting so horribly that Angelina, Alicia and Katie were having trouble making accurate throws with the Quaffle. Wood, meanwhile, was screaming that if they threw like this in a game, they would turn it over before they made it to midfield.

"I don't care if you have to tuck it into one another's arms!" he shouted. "Just make sure that those passes are accurate!"

Angelina, Alicia and Katie tightened up their formation to their passes would be shorter and less likely to be intercepted by opposing players.

"Fred! George!" bellowed Wood. "Stop playing around with that thing and _hit_ it like you mean it! The Slytherins won't be that nice to you, we have to give them a taste of their own medicine!"

"Does that include punching them in the gut when they fly by?" Fred barked back after a particularly hard hit at the Bludger.

Wood eyed Madam Hooch sitting in the stands, then looked back to his team. He opened his mouth and closed it again. Then he said, in a rather hushed tone, "Only if Madam Hooch doesn't see it."

Katie grinned mischievously. How she would love to take a swing at Adrian Pucey. She'd never forgiven him for pouring a whole bottle of ink on her head back in first year. At least she'd had the pleasure of beating him and the rest of the Slytherin team the past two years.

Eventually, Wood called his team to the ground. As they trouped off to the locker rooms, however, Madam Hooch called him aside. The troll-like form of Marcus Flint stood next to her.

"Meet you in the locker room!" Oliver called to his team, and sauntered over to the pair of them.

"Wonder what that's about?" Katie thought aloud.

Angelina shrugged. "Maybe they're talking about safety for the match. McGonagall's being really protective." She added in hushed tones so Harry wouldn't hear.

"I would be, too," said Alicia in the same low voice. "A mass murderer going after one of your students?"

"And a murderer who's got the guts to go under Dumbledore's nose, at that," added George.

"If anyone needs proof that Azkaban makes you crazy," Fred noted, "that'd be it."

The team settled themselves down in the locker room, chatting casually as they stripped off padding and gloves. Katie was just putting her trainers back on when the door opened. A gust of wind blew into the locker room. Katie's quick reflexes allowed her to just barely catch her glove before it was sent flying into the giant puddle of mud that covered the floor. Oliver stormed in, his jaw sternly set. Katie knew that face. Whenever he got lockjaw, she knew there was something wrong.

"We're not playing Slytherin!" he fumed. "Flint's just been to see me. We're playing Hufflepuff instead."

"Why?" chorused the rest of them. They couldn't believe it. After all these practices? Slytherin could just decide to pull out at the last minute like this? Had Madam Hooch gone _mad_?

"Flint's excuse is that their Seeker's arm is still injured," said Wood, grinding his teeth furiously. "But it's obvious why they're doing it. Don't want to play in this weather. Think it'll damage their chances..."

There had been strong winds and spots of heavy rain all day, and as Wood spoke, they heard a distant rumble of thunder. Katie bit her lip in frustration. This was typical Slytherin: do any little, backhanded thing you can to gain the advantage. Those dirty cowards. She wished _they_ could get called "scallywags" by Sir Cadogan all the time.

"There's _nothing wrong _with Malfoy's arm!" said Harry furiously. "He's faking it!"

"I know that, but we can't prove it," said Wood bitterly. "And we've been practicing all those moves assuming we're playing Slytherin, and instead it's Hufflepuff, and their style's quite different. They've got a new Captain and Seeker, Cedric Diggory–"

Angelina looked at Katie, Alicia elbowed her in the ribs, and the three of them broke out into giggles.

"What?" said Wood, frowning at this lighthearted behavior.

"He's that tall, good-looking one, isn't he?" said Angelina. Katie knew only she and Alicia caught the subtle teasing in her voice.

"Strong and silent," Katie agreed before she could help herself. She was going to play Cedric for the first game of the year! She could show off all her best moves to him first hand. This was brilliant! The three of them started to giggle again.

"He's only silent because he's too thick to string two words together," said Fred impatiently. "I don't know why you're worried, Oliver, Hufflepuff is a pushover. Last time we played them, Harry caught the Snitch in about five minutes, remember?"

"We were playing in completely different conditions!" Wood shouted, his eyes bulging slightly. "Diggory's put a very strong side together! He's an excellent Seeker! I was afraid you'd take it like this! We musn't relax! We must keep our focus! Slytherin is trying to wrong-foot us! We _must_ win!"

"Oliver, calm down!" said Fred, looking slightly alarmed. "We're taking Hufflepuff very seriously. _Seriously_."

"Good," said Wood, turning to his locker. "I just wish I'd known _before_ practice. Waiting to the last minute like this…" He continued to grumble as he pulled off his own gloves and pads. Katie caught snippets of his mutterings, including several words that would have cost him a detention and a mention of the Slytherin Captain, Marcus Flint, but she chose not to get involved. At the moment, Wood just needed his space to complain.

Wood's mood didn't seem to improve much over the next few days. Katie didn't talk to him, but whenever she glanced down the Gryffindor table at meals, or spotted him in his corner of the common room, he was either looking quite surly, or bending his head over a piece of parchment, furiously scribbling diagrams.

The day before the match, the winds reached howling point and the rain fell harder than ever. It was so dark inside the corridors and classrooms that extra torches and lanterns were lit. The Slytherin team was looking very smug indeed. Adrian Pucey gave Katie a horrible sneer as she passed him in the corridor on the way to class.

"Hufflepuff's going to flatten you like a flobberworm," he sniggered. "And I bet you were working so hard, too."

"Sod off," she warned, "or you'll know a new way to sit on a broom."

The eyes of Leanne, Rose, Rhea and Chloe nearly popped out of their sockets, but Katie just kept walking calmly down the hall. After three years, she had a blasé attitude about the insults thrown at her before each match. However, she could never quite come up with the caliber of retorts the Weasley twins were able to.

"Well, Weasels," said Marcus Flint loudly as they passed the Slytherin table to go to lunch, "I heard your mother wants you to come home. She doesn't want to have to bury you after the match."

"Yeah? Well, I heard your mother wants you to come home, too. She's afraid all this leaning is going to actually ruin her poor widdle Marcky-marc's stupidity she worked so hard for. You know, you never told us she's a troll—"

"Or that your father smells like stinksap--"

"Shut up about my parents!" Marcus growled.

Marcus glowered as ferociously as his troll-like features would allow and stomped away. Katie turned to go to potions, shaking her head. He should know better than to try to pull one over on the Weasley twins.

Oliver didn't help one bit. He kept hurrying up to them between classes giving them tips. Personally, Katie was rather disturbed by this practice. She didn't need to be any more nervous than she already was. No matter how cool she and the rest of the team played it, she knew deep down they all were jumping with nerves. The last-minute switch had put them at a rather large disadvantage, not to mention the weather putting a damper on some of their more spectacular plays. It was going to be a good old down-and-dirty fight to the finish. And though the circumstances made her rather apprehensive, Katie couldn't wait for Saturday.

The day of the match, Katie woke to thunder rumbling overhead, wind pounding against the castle walls, and the trees of the Forbidden Forest creaking in the distance. She took a few deep breaths and ran through her head what she wanted to play like today. It was almost silly to her, this "positive visualization" but she had been started on this by her father with football. Now, it was more habit than anything else. Wood didn't know about it, but if he did, she was sure that he would be pleased. Sports—Muggle or Magical—were half mental. After a few meditative minutes, she rose and threw on her robes from the day before. She crossed the room on tip-toe and slipped out quietly so as not to wake her dorm mates.

The noise of the storm was even louder in the common room than the dormitory. Katie met Angelina and Alicia in the common room and the three of them traipsed down to the Great Hall for breakfast. Harry was already down there, finishing off a large bowl of porridge. He looked up at their group, and seemed thoroughly relieved for some reason. Katie suspected Wood had been hounding him down between classes the previous day as well. Oliver had seemed rather concerned about Diggory's skill as a Seeker. She wasn't sure whether to be happy or apprehensive about that. Katie sat down between Harry and Angelina, helping herself to some porridge as well as Harry started on some toast. Oliver showed up soon after, sitting across from Harry. Fred and George were the last to appear only moments later.

"It's going to be a tough one," said Wood, who wasn't eating anything.

"Stop worrying, Oliver," said Alicia soothingly, "we don't mid a bit of rain."

"Come on, Oliver," coaxed Katie, "You've got to have something. What are you always telling us about flying on an empty stomach?"

Oliver gave her a reluctant smile and Katie felt her appetite suddenly ebb. She lowered her head and began to tuck in, determined to heed her own advice.

"I'd rather fly on an empty stomach in this," muttered George.

Katie agreed, but did so silently. This wind could twist her around to make her retch soon enough, but she didn't want to think of it at the moment.

Alicia's reassurances turned out to be rather hollow. It was considerably more than a bit of rain. The whole school still turned out to watch the match, but they ran as quickly as they could down the lawns toward the Quidditch field, heads bowed against the ferocious wind, umbrellas being whipped out of their hands as they went. Katie had an umbrella tumble into her as she neared the pitch. She picked it up and handed it with a knowing grimace to an already-drenched and miserable-looking first year.

The team changed into their scarlet robes in relative silence. Then, they waited for Wood's usual pre-match pep talk, but it didn't come. He tried to speak several times, made an odd gulping noise, then shook his head hopelessly and beckoned them to follow him. Katie exchanged a nervous look with Alicia, and noticed both her and Angelina's taught faces. They were obviously as uneasy as she was about this; none of them could remember a game where Wood could not give them a fervent, if a bit manic, speech beforehand.

The wind was so strong that they staggered sideways as they walked out onto the field. If the crowd was cheering, they couldn't hear it over the fresh rolls of thunder. The rain lashed at them as it came down in sheets.

The Hufflepuffs were approaching from the opposite side of the field, wearing canary-yellow robes. Katie wasn't fond of the almost ludicrously bright Hufflepuff robes, but glancing down at her own nearly-drenched ones which had turned almost maroon in color with the addition of water, she grudgingly admitted that they were much easier to see in horrible weather such as this. The Captains walked up to each other and shook hands; Diggory smiled at Wood (Katie's stomach jumped slightly at seeing his attractive grin again), but Wood now looked as though he had lockjaw and merely nodded. Katie saw Madam Hooch's mouth form the words "Mount your brooms." She immediately held her Cleansweep in place and swung one leg over. As she correctly positioned herself over her broom, she kept her eyes on Madam Hooch. Hooch put her whistle to her lips and gave it a blast that sounded shrill and distant. The kick-off was slowed by the slippery mud that composed the ground, but nevertheless, they were soon airborn.

Alicia grabbed the Quaffle first. Angelina and Katie fell into Lion, as they had practiced so many times. It was their "run-and-gun" offense, as Wood called it, spreading out the defense by using as much of the field's width as possible and using coordinated maneuvers to get long, up-the-field passes. It was Wood's idea to get as far ahead as soon as possible, before the rain and wind had time to wear them down; he wanted to be prepared for a long match. As the wind continued to tug at her robes and the rain impeded her vision, Katie knew that it would nearly take a miracle for Harry to find the Snitch very soon.

Katie saw out of the corner of her eye as two Hufflepuff Chasers zoomed towards Alicia, in an attempt to either make her change her flight path, or drop the Quaffle as she tried defensive maneuvers. Katie smiled. This was precisely what they had hoped for. She swerved towards the left the side of the pitch, towards Summerby, the Hufflepuff who was coming to defend her, then shot off in the other direction, towards the goals. She caught in the corner of her right eye the pass from Alicia to Angelina, who tucked it under her arm. Katie continued her straight shot towards the goals, the yellow-robed Chaser ten meters behind her. A Bludger came flying at her, but it was badly aimed and sped past an arm's length away. Angelina and Katie were both zooming towards the three scoring hoops, but from different angles. The Hufflepuff Keeper kept looking between the two of them, not sure which was the bigger threat. Angelina pump-fakes a throw, which curved into a reverse-pass to Katie, who seized the Quaffle only long enough to hurl it through the left hoop.

A low roar of cheers drifted up from the Gryffindor crowd, dampened by the sounds of wind and pouring rain. It was the Hufflepuff's Quaffle next, and Katie turned tail to assume a defensive position. Unfortunately, Summerby had been far enough behind Katie when she shirked him that he had bolted back the other direction and received a well-tossed pass from Hopkins, to put him ahead of Katie and Angelina. Alicia sped towards him, hoping to knock the Quaffle out from under his arm. Unfortunately, a Bludger almost hit her in the chest, and she had to swerve away at the last minute. One of the Weasley twins swooped down and attempted to knock the same Bludger back at Summerby, but couldn't get enough of his bat behind it. Now it was just Summerby and Wood, looking intensely at the Chaser speeding towards him. Summerby shimmied, though Katie (having worked on the same move with Oliver for an hour that Sunday in September) considered it rather sloppy. Oliver probably shared her thoughts, but made no move except to slightly drift as he hovered in front of the Gryffindor's hoop. Then, Summerby lobbed the ball at the right hoop, only to watch helplessly as Oliver used his signature move and bat the Quaffle away with the back of his broom.

"Mine!" shouted Katie as she soared up to the scarlet Quaffle.

Grabbing it with one hand, she turned and flew towards the Hufflepuff end of the pitch. Hopkins charged towards her, but she looped him easily and let his momentum send him far behind her. Next, Katie saw a Bludger speeding at her for a head-on collision.

"Ange!" she shouted.

Her fellow Chaser shifted over so they flew parallel, with Katie above her. Katie dropped the Quaffle to Angelina without a thought, then quickly veered to the side to avoid the Bludger. Angelina soared towards the Hufflepuff hoops. After a quick zig-zag to disorient the Keeper, she flung the Quaffle at the right goal. The scarlet ball just barely passed the tips of the Hufflepuff Keeper's fingers and soared through. Angelina pumped her fist in the air as she careened to prepare for defense. Twenty-zero, Gryffindor.

Time passed. Katie didn't have any idea how long. She was too focused on the Quaffle. All she knew was that Hufflepuff scored next, because a well-hit Bludger forced Wood to move to the side just enough for Hopkins to force the Quaffle by him. It was now twenty-ten. Fred and George were up in arms about this, and spent a minute arguing with Madam Hooch, who said it was a score because the Quaffle _had_ been in the scoring area, thus allowing attacks on the Keeper. Interestingly enough, Wood made no argument on his own behalf. Instead, he told the twins Madam Hooch was right and to let them get on with the match. Trust the Quidditch maniac to have memorized the rules, let alone follow them devotedly to the letter. Fred and George flew back to their positions grudgingly, leering menacingly at the Hufflepuff Beater who had hit the Bludger with such perfect timing. The However, long practice and mental conditioning from Wood let the Gryffindors channel their frustrations into the game. Their intensity lead to two straight goals by Alicia. Forty-ten. Angelina scored next.

Hufflepuff's third chaser, Adams, seized the Quaffle after the second of Alicia's scores and sped off in the other direction. He dodged a Bludger sent by Fred, but his swerve disoriented him enough for Angelina to pull her own signature move and punch the Quaffle from under his arm. She sped straight at Summerby, who had veered into her path to intercept her. Angelina quickly passed the Quaffle to an unguarded Katie, who flew off to the Hufflepuff end. There was no one between her and the Keeper, so she covered the space as fast as her Cleansweep could take her. At the last minute, she tensed her muscles and executed her well-practiced shimmy. The Keeper's eyes locked onto hers. The eyes! She pulled out of the shimmy, glanced at the left hoop for a moment. The Hufflepuff Keeper drifted over. Then she pulled out of the head-fake and threw the Quaffle through the center hoop, sending the Hufflepuff Keeper sprawling through the air in his attempt to save it.

She raised her fist in triumph as she skirted around the goals. The Keeper tossed the Quaffle to Adams, who streaked off towards the Gryffindor end. Katie laid low to her broomstick, but didn't have a fast enough model to gain ground. She watched with a groan as he made a spectacular reverse-pass to Hopkins. Katie put a hand to her brow, only to see Hopkins throw the Quaffle through the left hoop, brushing just the tips of Oliver's fingers.

The next point dragged on; both teams were beginning to succumb to the storm. Angelina just barely overthrew Alicia, so the Quaffle was intercepted by Summerby. Wood saved his attempt, but Katie only got to midfield before it was turned over again. Fortunately, she redeemed herself a minute later, as she managed to intercept Adams' pass to Hopkins, and toss the Quaffle to Angelina.

"Lion! Lion!" she called. Alicia and Katie fell into formation.

This time, it was Alicia who streaked deep and assaulted the Keeper with Angelina. Unfortuntely, the shot was blocked, but Katie snatched it from under Summerby's nose and scored before the Keeper realized what had happened.

With the first flash of lightning came the sound of Madam Hooch's whistle. Wood gestured them to the ground. The whole team splashed down into the mud.

"I called for a time-out!" Wood roared at his team. "Come on, under here–"

They huddled at the edge of the field under a large umbrella.

"What's the score?" asked Harry.

"We're fifty points up," said Wood, "but unless we get the Snitch soon, we'll be playing into the night."

"I've got no chance with these on," Harry said, exasperatedly, waving his glasses.

At that very moment, bushy-haired Hermione Granger appeared at his shoulder; she was holding her cloak above her head and was, inexplicably, beaming.

"I've had an idea, Harry! Give me your glasses, quick!"

He handed them to her, and as the team watched in amazement, Hermione tapped them with her wand and said, "_Impervius!_"

"There!" she said, handing them back to Harry. "They'll repel water!"

Wood looked as though he could have kissed her. Katie felt slightly ashamed that she'd just been shown up by a third year, and that Oliver would look at her like that, but then she realized four fifth years and a seventh year had just been outstripped by Hermione as well.

"Brilliant!" Wood called hoarsely after her as she disappeared into the crowd. "Okay, team, let's go for it!"

Madam Hooch gestured for them to form up. They obediently left the shelter of the umbrella and joined her and the impatient-looking Hufflepuffs back in the center of the field. Once again, Katie watched as Madam Hooch mouthed "Mount your brooms" then blew her whistle. Katie pushed off the ground and soared up into the storm with renewed energy.

The storm steadily worsened, but Katie, Alicia and Angelina battled doggedly onward. The passes were getting sloppier. Katie couldn't remember what a Quaffle felt like dry. Fortunately, the rain began to let up a bit, but not enough to raise the conditions to anything preferable. The wind kept blowing, tugging at the drenched robes plastered onto their bodies by the rain. Katie found herself just wanting the match to end. No one had scored in twenty minutes. She wanted to go back to the locker room and change into gloriously dry robes.

Katie shook her head. "It's not over until the Snitch is caught!" she said to herself.

"Harry!" came Wood's anguished yell from the Gryffindor goal posts, "Harry, behind you!"

Katie was curious. Wood didn't usually yell in matches. But she knew better than to abandon formation just to watch the Seeker, so she continued to flank Alicia down the field.

Katie felt it before she saw anything. That chill that penetrated through her bones. At first she thought it was just a particularly biting gust of wind, but then she heard the crying... Fighting through her memories, she glimpsed back to see at least a hundred dementors standing on the pitch, their faces pointing up towards a form she decided was Harry from his slender silhouette. The screaming got louder, the images of her mother dying crept up into her head once again but she forced them back down. She unconsciously touched her necklace. Harry had been speeding towards Cedric, the two of them closing the gap with alarming speed. It seemed that the Snitch was between them. Then, Harry slowed. Katie abandoned all thought of the Quaffle as Harry stopped, and Cedric kept going, flying straight across the pitch, fifty feet from the ground. She thought they were going to collide. Then, something worse happened. Katie watched in horror as Harry slipped off his Nimbus and began to plummet to earth.

"NO!" she screamed, but her call was lost in the storm.


	8. Losing Streak

Harry landed on the muddy earth with a thud. The dementors began to swarm towards his sprawled, limp form. Katie, along with the rest of the Gryffindor team, sped towards her fallen teammate.

At the same moment, Cedric pulled out of his dive, his fist held high above him in triumph, a grin spread across his face. When he didn't hear cheering, he looked around, then below him, and realized what had happened.

Katie soared just over the dementors on her broom. Her stomach hurt and her head felt like it was splitting open, but she had to get to Harry. The crying got louder, that horrible sound of a child's true, agonized scream. Katie couldn't suppress the images anymore; her mother on her deathbed, her mother in her coffin, her father crying—the scenes flashed before her eyes, one after the other. Her head was pounding, but she had to get to... Katie tumbled off her broom and onto the mud of the pitch just a few meters from where Harry lay, fighting against the scenes of suffering and despair that tried to control her vision.

Something, it looked like the silvery ghost of a beautiful bird, came sweeping down on the dementors. Hooded heads turned towards it and they began to scatter, but not soon enough. The screaming in Katie's head continued, and she began to relive her mother's funeral.

"Get her up! Get her up!" voice came drifting through Katie's waking nightmare.

The images became blurred. Katie wasn't sure what she was seeing anymore, but she could feel herself being pulled up. Her arm was placed across someone's shoulders, and an arm gripped her around the waist. Katie saw another flash of silver and she returned to reality. She felt a strange feeling in her stomach and immediately knew what she had to do, though she dreaded it.

For the second time that year, Katie doubled over with a caring stranger supporting her, let nature take its course. When she straightened, however, she was surprised to see not the gray eyes of Cedric Diggory, but the chocolate brown ones of Oliver Wood.

"I—I'm sorry," she gasped.

"Don't worry about it," he said. "Just, do yourself a favor, and get to the Hospital Wing, okay?"

Hospital Wing. The mention of it brought a flood of memories—the game, the dementors, and Harry falling.

"No, Harry's the one who needs to get to the Hospital Wing," Katie protested.

"I don't have time to discuss this," Oliver replied wearily. "Ange, Ali, can you take care of her?"

"Sure," said Angelina, coming to take Oliver's place.

Katie shrugged her off. "I don't need to be babied," she snapped.

"Calm down, Kates," said Alicia. "We're just trying to help."

"Where's Harry?" asked Katie, wiping a bit of vomit from the corner of her mouth with the sleeve of her robes.

"Here," said Angelina, leading her forward. Katie gripped her hand firmly—she still wasn't feeling back to normal, but she was more concerned about Harry. He was the one who had fallen from so far up.

Professors Dumbledore, Lupin, Snape and McGonagall were all bent low over the scrawny figure still sprawled motionless on the ground. Oliver was squatted down next to Dumbledore.

"He'll be alright, Oliver," Dumbledore was telling him. "He's just unconcious. It doesn't look like he hurt anything in the fall, but I'm not Madam Pomfrey. I'll be having a word with Cornelius about this, however," he added with a cold anger. Katie was surprised, she had never heard him talk like that before, but just that cold tone in his voice was scarier than if he had been breathing fire.

He waved his wand and a stretcher materialized immediately with a small popping noise. Another wave and he guided Harry's limp form onto it. As Dumbledore began to walk the stretcher up to the castle, Katie was distracted by raised voices behind her. Turning around, she saw Cedric and Madam Hooch in a heated debate.

"I can't do that!" said Cedric. "It's just not right!"

"You won the match fair and square," Madam Hooch replied, "I appreciate your sportsmanship, Diggory, but the result will not be overturned," Cedric opened his mouth, but she continued before he could interrupt, "or replayed. The match goes to Hufflepuff, and that is final."

"If I knew it wasn't impossible, I'd say he was crazier than Wood," Fred commented as he and George caught up with the three Chasers.

"He was trying to get the results overturned?" Katie asked, trying to sound as innocently curious as possible.

"Yep," George replied. "With all these loonies running around the castle, you'd think we were a madhouse, not a school."

"Well now, Cedric didn't even need any cajoling from you to ask for a rematch," Angelina said as she grinned madly at Katie, who flushed brightly. Alicia, however, quickly elbowed Angelina in the ribs.

"Ow! What'd you—"

"Who didn't need to cajole Cedric?"

Katie winced as she recognized the Scottish accent could mean only one thing.

"No one," said Alicia almost too quickly.

"Our little angel Katie here had a date with handsome Cedric on Halloween," George informed Oliver, batting his eyelashes.

"Stuff it, George," Katie warned.

"Way to go, nitwit," Alicia muttered at George but was interrupted when Oliver exploded.

"SHE WHAT!"

All six of them winced at the force of his outburst.

"It wasn't a date," Katie told him calmly. She wasn't sure what to do to remedy the situation, but that could certainly be a start.

"I...but…_INSUBORDINATION_!" he yelled.

"Wood—"

"You were _consorting with the enemy_!"

"I wasn't consorting with anyone!" Katie replied hotly, "We were just—"

"What did you tell him?" Oliver demanded.

"I didn't tell him anything! We didn't even talk about Quidditch!" protested Katie, recoiling from her enraged Captain.

"Didn't you see how bad he felt when Madam Hooch wouldn't give him a rematch?" Alicia asked.

"Well, yes," Wood admitted. "Even though they did win it…fair and square," he added with a sullen note in his voice.

"So why would he act like that if he'd been wheedling information out of Katie?" Angelina asked.

Oliver looked up. "Don't you _care_ that we _just lost_?" Wood shouted. "Don't you _care_ about winning the cup?"

"Yes I do, Oliver," Katie replied with a dangerous tone in her voice.

"Then _why_?" he asked as he rounded on her. "Why would you put that on the line with—with _him_?"

"First of all," she responded with cold defiance, "I didn't put _anything_ on the line because he didn't even _try_ to get information out of me. Secondly, we didn't even _know_ we'd be _playing_ each other today. And thirdly, because he's a _good man_ who actually cares about _people_ as much as _Quidditch_."

Oliver looked at her, almost amazed. He opened his mouth, but when he saw Alicia and Angelina standing supportively behind her, and even Fred and George with sympathetic looks on their faces, he closed it again. Instead of retaliating, he turned on his heel.

"I'm going for a shower," he said gruffly, and stalked away.

"What a git," Fred muttered when Oliver was out of hearing range.

"You said it," George agreed. Still, Katie watched her Captain go.

"Come on, Katie," said Angelina, tugging lightly on her arm.

Katie shook her head. Her friends were right. Under no circumstances was he allowed to challenge her dedication to the team, and to the Cup, based on one afternoon in Hogsmeade which wasn't even a date, and where Quidditch was not even mentioned. Katie thanked that at least Alicia had had the sense to attempt to cut short the mishap. If Oliver had figured out her lie about the dance lessons, she was sure she would rue that oh-so-pleasant day. Katie turned her back on Wood as he disappeared into the locker rooms.

The five of them turned away from the sodden Quidditch pitch and continued in the rain and wind up to the welcoming light of Hogwarts castle. They bypassed the open door to the Great Hall, from which issued much whooping and cheering. The Hufflepuffs were apparently quite excited about that day's win. Instead, the soaked Gryffindor Quidditch team, sans its Captain, trudged in silence up the marble staircase to the third floor, then through winding corridors to end at the hospital wing.

The twins opened the double doors and allowed the ladies to pass before them.

"_What_ are you doing here?" Madam Pomfrey demanded, bustling towards them "Get out of those soaking robes this instant before you catch a cold!"

"We're not going anywhere," said Angelina.

"Oh yes you are—"

"It's okay, Poppy," said Professor Dumbledore, who had stood up from the side of a hospital bed. Harry lay there, still apparently unconscious. Ron and Hermione were already by his side. Hermione was sniffling slightly. Ron looked utterly bewildered, and was very awkwardly patting Hermione's shoulder. "You said he should be waking soon. I think it best for all his friends to be here for him when he does."

Madam Pomfrey respected Dumbledore too much to contradict him, but she still didn't look pleased.

"Alright," she said. "They can stay 'till he's woken." She looked at the team, "But I'll only give you a few minutes afterwards. The boy needs a good night's sleep more than anything else."

"Thank you, Poppy," Dumbledore with an obliging smile. "I should inform the other students that he is indeed alive and well. Good evening to you all." He turned away from Harry, and gave the Gryffindor Quidditch team a friendly nod as he swept passed them and out of the double doors.

The scarlet-clad bunch made their way almost gingerly to Harry's side. He always looked scrawny, but lying unconscious in a bed made him appear downright frail.

"I don't believe it," said George, shaking his head. It was the first any of them had said about their (literally) fallen teammate, and it was the icebreaker the others needed. The emotions started to surface again.

"Lucky the ground was so soft," Angelina whispered hoarsely.

"I thought he was dead for sure," admitted Katie in the same low voice.

"But he didn't even break his glasses," commented George with a hint of awe in his voice.

"That was the scariest thing I've ever seen in my life," Alicia said, shaking her head as if the motion would wipe the memory from her mind.

Harry's eyes fluttered, then snapped open. He took in the Gryffindor Quidditch team, spattered with mud from head to foot, gathered around his bed, then the drenched Ron and Hermione on his other side.

"Harry!" said Fred, who looked extremely white underneath the mud. "How're you feeling?"

"What happened?" Harry said, sitting up so suddenly they all gasped.

"You fell off," said Fred. "Must've been–what–fifty feet?"

"We thought you'd died," said Alicia, who was shaking.

Hermione made a small, squeaky noise. Her eyes were extremely bloodshot.

"But the match," said Harry. "What happened? Are we doing a replay?"

No one said anything. Katie was sure everyone else felt as she did–unwilling to be the bearer of bad news.

"We didn't–_lose_?" persisted Harry.

"Diggory got the Snitch," said George. "Just after you fell. He didn't realize what had happened. When he looked back and saw you on the ground, he tried to call it off. Wanted a rematch. But they won fair and square...even Wood admits it."

"Where is Wood?" said Harry. He had obviously just noticed the Captain's absence.

"Still in the showers," said Fred. "We think he's trying to drown himself."

Harry put his face to his knees, his hands gripping his hair. Fred grabbed his shoulder and shook it roughly.

"C'mon, Harry, you've never missed the Snitch before."

"There had to be one time you didn't get it," said George.

"It's not over yet," said Fred. "We lost by a hundred points, right? So if Hufflepuff loses to Ravenclaw and we beat Ravenclaw and Slytherin..."

"Hufflepuff'll have to lose by at least two hundred points," said George.

"But if they beat Ravenclaw..."

"No way, Ravenclaw is too good. But if Slytherin loses against Hufflepuff..."

"It all depends on the points–a margin of a hundred either way–"

Harry lay there, not saying a word. Angelina and Katie soon joined in with Fred and George's debate. Alicia, however, stayed quiet and put a reassuring hand on Harry's shoulder.

After ten minutes or so, Madam Pomfrey came over to tell the team to leave him in peace.

"We'll come and see you later," Fred told him. "Don't beat yourself up, Harry, you're still the best Seeker we've ever had."

The team trooped out, trailing mud behind them. Madam Pomfrey shut the door behind them, looking disapproving. After staring dolefully at the locked hospital doors, they made their way up to Gryffindor to change into clean, dry robes. Katie had to admit that it felt wonderful. Fred and George nicked some food from the kitchens, since they didn't feel like going down to the Great Hall and receiving either pity or snide comments from the other students. Instead, Angelina, Alicia and Katie joined Fred, George and Lee, who they had managed to drag away from dinner, for pasties in the fifth year boys' dorm.

The meal began in silence. No one could really believe they had lost, and by a decent margin to boot: one-hundred points. Katie kept replaying the game in her head over and over. She analyzed every moment and every point to see if there was anything she could have done better. Every mistake, every turnover was a lost goal, or so Wood had told her, and with them a hundred points down in the rankings. They would have to win their other two games in spectacular fashion to overcome such a deficit. Either that, or one of the other teams would have to loose just as horribly as they had, which Katie highly doubted…Her concentration was broken when Angelina slammed her clenched fist on the floor.

"This is so stupid!" she said. "All of us, moping here like we just lost a family member, and Oliver ticked at Kates just because she spent an afternoon with someone who just happens to play Quidditch! We can't let this get us down!"

"You're right, Ange," said Alicia.

"If we're going to win this, we'll have to pick up the pace," Fred noted gloomily.

"À la Oliver," George agreed.

"Come on," Katie said, sitting up straighter. "It won't be that bad as long as we stick together."

"Don't you want to see Gryffindor with the Cup?" Angelina asked the twins.

"I want it just as bad as the next person," Fred replied, slightly indignant, "but I'm not selling my soul to get it."

"Come on," Lee pressed, "I think these girls have got the right idea. Are you in or are you out?"

The twins exchanged a look that said both of them would rather spend their time pranking Mr. Filch than practicing in the rain and wind in the Quidditch stadium, but then they responded in unison: "We're in."

"Good," said Alicia. "We practice harder than ever. No more giving Wood a hard time. He's a good Captain and we need him."

"But—" George started.

"No buts," Katie cut him off.

"To start," Alicia continued. "We'll read Oliver's playbook."

"Are you _kidding_?" Angelina burst out.

"That'll help a lot," said Katie. They all stared at her. "Well, as the only one who actually _looked_ at the thing, I think I know," she said defensively.

"Good," said Alicia.

"What about equipment?" Lee asked.

"Good question," Alicia answered. "We don't have many funds, but—"

"Leave that to us," Fred told them.

Angelina threw him a suspicious look, but Alicia was the one who voiced the concern: "As long as it's nothing illegal."

"No. Just some…_things_…we've been working on," George responded casually.

"That's settled then. Now, the last thing we need is…" Alicia trailed off, and looked around the room.

"What?" asked Katie.

Alicia responded by saying "_Accio parchment! Accio quill! Accio ink!"_ Gettting up to open the door, ink, quill and a roll of parchment fell into her arms. She returned to the group and began drafting a contract:

_We, Alicia Spinnet, Angelina Johnson, Fred and George Weasley and Katie Bell (with Lee Jordan as witness) solemnly swear to do everything in our power to win the Quidditch Cup. We will not argue overmuch with our Captain, we will read the playbook and learn the strategies therein and we will practice to the best of our ability. If we do not hold true to this contract, we will suffer a horrible, early death._

_X_

_X_

_X_

_X_

_X_

_X_

_X_

Alicia finished with a flourish at the bottom of the page.

"A horrible, early death?" Angelina read. "I don't know if I want to sign for _that_."

"It is a bit harsh," Lee agreed.

"Fine," said Alicia. She muttered "_evanesco_" with a flick of her wand and filled the gap with "utter and unbearable humiliation."

"I _suppose_ that's better," said Angelina.

"Let us do it," Fred offered, pulling the parchment towards himself. With another "_evanesco_" the twins had written "a suitable punishment, as decided by the other group members."

"That's no fair!" said Katie. "We can never think of as good punishments as you can, so if you two are the ones who mess up—"

"I'm not signing to anything else," George insisted.

"Or me," his twin added.

"I suppose that'll be good enough…" Alicia said. "Okay. I'm signing it. Dipping her quill to the ink once again, she signed her name on the first X. They passed the piece of parchment around and everyone signed. When it made its way around to Alicia again, she magically sealed it with her wand and tucked it into the inside pocket of her robes.

"It's settled, then," she said.

"All for one," George joked.

Fred looked at his cup and smirked. He raised it, adding, "and the Cup for all!"

Katie smiled. "I like it."

Angelina extended her hand into the space between them. The rest copied her. "All for one," she began.

"And the Cup for all!"

In most ways, Katie's life went back to normal after the Gryffindors' grim defeat. The Gryffindor team visited Harry again on Sunday morning, accompanied by Wood, who told Harry (in a hollow, dead sort of voice) that he didn't blame him the slightest.

Katie continued to work her way through her fourth year classes. They had started making simple antidotes in Potions, and she continued to draw attention from Snape only in the way he sneered nastily at her when he could find nothing at fault with her brew. Lupin, after returning from a sudden illness, moved them onto some more complicated creatures. She was even making noted progress in Transfiguration, and appreciated McGonagall's somewhat softened manor. Katie imagined McGonagall had been almost as shocked and disappointed in the Quidditch loss as her team. Snape had gleefully rubbed it in her face, no doubt, and sleazily echoed the Slytherins' woes: "If only our Seeker had been healthy…"

One thing that had changed for the worse, however, was the mysterious necklace. The glow that had been developing to a rather bright shine in the days leading up to the match, had suddenly been reduced to a rather dulled glow. Katie pondered the way events in her life had affected this mysterious property, but it was beyond her just what exactly the radiance (or lack thereof) meant.

Nevertheless, Katie's mood improved whenever she thought back to the Quidditch team's secret pact. Oliver, of course, was kept out of the loop. The rest of the team didn't want him having too much leverage over them. Otherwise, who knew what crazy practice regimens his maniacal mind could conjure. He was surprised, however, when the team began following his lead without question following the Hufflepuff match. Not that he was complaining. Wood assumed that they had come to realize that he had been right all along, or so Katie guessed. She didn't hold him in the highest esteem since he had so—in her opinion—unjustly yelled at her for her outing with Cedric. She stuck by her decision that Oliver had no right to question her personal encounters. He was her Captain on the field, but off, he was just another seventh year. And she meant to keep it that way.

Unfortunately, Katie could not have her druthers. After the first practice since the loss to Hufflepuff, Katie was making her way to the broom shed to put away her Cleansweep, when she heard that voice calling her name.

"Katie!"

She clenched her teeth and kept walking. She wasn't eager to talk to him, and she intended him to get that message.

"Katie."

He said it with more force this time, and she knew she couldn't shrug him off another time without getting scolded for being rude. (Though she considered it rather rich to receive a lecture on manners when Oliver was the one who had stuck his nose where it didn't belong.) To avoid this, Katie turned around to face him.

"What's this?" Oliver asked her, shaking a piece of parchment clenched in his left hand.

"What's what?" Katie asked dully.

"This!" he said, waving it in front of her nose.

"I still can't tell what it is, Wood."

"It's a letter from Madam Puddifoot," he informed her, "telling me that she never knew anything about giving you dance lessons."

"Oh, really?" answered Katie as unconcernedly as possible. She turned at continued on towards the broom shed. Oliver stepped into her path and Katie was forced to stop again.

"Katie, look at me," Oliver ordered her. Katie obeyed, but with her head thrown back defiantly.

"Yes?"

"Why did you lie to me?" he asked her earnestly. His brown eyes searched her own, but instead of anger, Katie saw only hurt. That threw her for a loop. She looked away as she tried to recover.

"Well…uh…you didn't seem to be too happy about the truth last time you found out about it," she retorted, though still somewhat clumsily.

Wood regarded her as he put two and two together. Katie almost felt bad as his sense of hurt seemed to deepen. It was almost a relief when the expected emotion of anger finally did rise to his features.

"_Him?_" Oliver demanded.

"He has a name."

"_Cedric_?" he inquired rather unkindly.

"Yes, Cedric," said Katie much more bravely than she felt. "And he's a very good teacher, too."

"I don't believe this…not again."

"It's the same thing as last time," Katie corrected him. "You're just getting mad about it all over again."

"That was on Halloween?"

"Yes. But I fail to see how you have the right to meddle in my personal affairs."

Completely ignoring her last statement, he pressed, "Has it happened since then?"

Katie blushed. "If you must know," she started. She was stalling and pretty sure he knew it. She wanted desperately to tell Oliver it had, just to spite him. But those simple brown eyes wanted an honest answer. He _was_ her Captain, after all, and she had already lied to him once already. Did she want him to stop trusting her? She had to make up her mind. She finished, "No, it hasn't."

"Good," said Wood, though he still looked far from pleased. After a pause, he turned away.

"Wood," said Katie. He halted and turned back to her. "Why don't you trust me?"

Oliver considered her for a minute, then looked her straight in the eye. Katie felt like those dark eyes were boring into her. She wanted to look away, but was determined to show no signs of weakness.

"I do trust you," Wood finally replied and broke their eye contact. Katie eyed him suspiciously. Oliver didn't notice, however, as just then a figure loped towards them from the direction of the castle. Someone with a yellow and black-striped scarf. Oliver looked back at Katie and hid a grimace. "I just don't trust Cedric. Think about what you're doing, Katie."

Katie blinked in surprise as Wood turned and walked up to the castle. Why didn't he trust Cedric? Was there something she didn't know about him? Her mind was reeling as she fought to understand what those words might mean. Could Cedric really be out to use her to win the Quidditch Cup? Or was Oliver overreacting, as he seemed to do most of the time? Why did he have to be so confusing? One thought chased another around in her head as she watched Wood walk away. Cedric gave Oliver a jovial waved as he passed him. Wood nodded stiffly in return.

"Katie!" called Cedric, "I thought I'd find you here. I hope Wood didn't work you too hard."

Katie only shook her head and continued toward the broom shed. Cedric fell into step with her.

"Good," he continued, "because I was wondering if you'd like another dance lesson."

Katie managed a thin smile, but replied, "I don't think that's such a good idea."

"Why not? You did fine last time, and the first time's usually the hardest…"

"It's not that," she said as she finally put her Cleansweep away.

"Then what is it?" Cedric asked, coming up behind her. "I came out here so no one would have to see. I don't mind that you're shy about it."

He was being so nice, and he was so close. Katie knew if she turned around just right, she'd be in his arms. She could almost feel him now. She knew she should be tingling, and her stomach fluttering, so why didn't it? Why did she, all of a sudden, feel so hollow?

"I just can't," she said. She sidled sideways so as not to end up pressed up against him and exited the confined space back into the last autumn evening.

"Is there something wrong, Katie?"

What did he want from her? _Did_ he want something from her? She couldn't decide. Now Oliver had her wondering…suspecting. How could she believe him? Why _did _she believe him? But what if he was telling the truth? What if Cedric was hiding something? He hadn't said he liked her, or even said that Hogsmeade was a date. Maybe this was all fun and games to him. Maybe all he cared about was Quidditch. Could it be?

"Katie?" Cedric's voice asked softly from behind her.

"I'm sorry, Cedric," said Katie. "But I can't see you for a while."

"What?" his long strides carried him to her side.

"I said I don't think I can see you for a while," she repeated.

"Is this about the game, because I'm really sorry about that. I tried to get a rematch, but Madam Hooch said we'd won it fair and square—"

Katie shook her head. "This isn't about the match. Even Wood admits you won fairly. I—I can't really explain, but—"

"Does this have something to do with Wood?" he asked.

"Sort of," Katie admitted. She had opened her mouth to explain the whole situation when Cedric cut her off.

"You don't have to explain."

Suddenly it hit Katie: he thought she fancied Oliver!

"It's not like that," she said quickly.

"It's okay, you don't have to explain," Cedric repeated.

"No! You don't understand—"

"It's okay," said Cedric and started walking away.

"No, It's not! You're not listening to me!"

"We don't have to talk about it."

"Yes we do!" shouted Katie, running up to him. "We _do_ need to talk about it because it's not what you think!"

"I'll see you around," he called with a backwards wave.

Katie frowned and turned her back on him. She walked back to the broom she, which she had the duty of locking up since she was the last one to leave. This was so frustrating! Boys were so stupid! First Oliver, getting mad at her for having a casual encounter, then his cryptic warning against Cedric, and now the man of her dreams walking away from her because he thought she fancied Oliver. It was all too strange. She tapped the shed door a bit harder with her wand then was necessary to complete the spell, then shoved her wand back into her robe pocket. Turning, she just saw Cedric mounting the castle's front stairs. That was it. She was going to beat Oliver to a bloody pulp. There was nothing in the pact that said she couldn't cause him bodily harm.

She strode up to Gryffindor Tower, but as the time passed, she quickly lost her anger and was instead overcome by guilt about what she had done. She had lost Cedric, she was convinced, because she was too stupid to consider what he might think of Oliver. By the time she got to the Common Room, she bade a quick good-night to her friends and practically dashed up to her dormitory, where she fell on her bed sobbing. Worst of all when she reached into her robes for the comforting light of her mother's necklace, she found that it had been extinguished.


	9. A Heart to Heart

Katie woke the next morning, and glanced out the window of Gryffindor tower only to find it an unwelcome, steely grey. She rolled over onto her side and attempted to go back to sleep. She just wanted to forget the night before. Her recent losing streak had been extremely depressing. Nothing seemed to have gone right since the loss to Hufflepuff. She rolled over again. She couldn't blame all her bad luck on the Quidditch match. That was such an… an _Oliver_ thing to do. Sport was sport and that was it. Katie turned over once more.

"Are you going to get up, Katie, or just lie there thrashing around?" asked Leanne, a hint of annoyance in her normally cheery voice.

Katie turned—none too quietly—and glared at her friend. "I think thrashing is preferable," she responded.

"Oh, don't be such a crab," grumbled Rose.

"Lay off," Katie snapped. With that, she hurriedly dressed herself and exited the room before she took out her frustration on anyone else.

When Katie entered the Great Hall, the enchanted ceiling was still a bleak, ashen hue, though it had lightened a bit. Darkness in the morning was yet another reminder that the days were getting shorter and the sun weaker. These thoughts did nothing to raise Katie's spirits. She walked over the Gryffindor table and plopped moodily beside Alicia.

"What's wrong, Kates?" her friend asked immediately.

Katie sighed and launched into an explanation of the conversations between her, Oliver and Cedric the day before. She avoided eye contact throughout the whole thing, buttering her toast as an excuse to keep her eyes locked down on her plate. She finished anticlimactically with a, "… so I guess that's it."

"What a dolt," said Angelina, "I knew he was thick from the beginning."

"That was quite insensitive of him," Alicia agreed. "Although, he's been quite the gentleman up until now. This is quite out of character."

"I bet he has someone else," Angelina said.

Alicia quickly elbowed her in the ribs. "Ange!" she hissed.

"Sorry, it's just that—" Angelina didn't finish her sentence, as she found her mouth stuffed full with a large roll.

Turning innocently to Katie, Alicia said, "I think you should talk to him. Maybe he just needed some time to cool off."

"I bet he'll run the other way as soon as he sees me coming," Katie grumbled.

"Well, then," said Alicia, "are you sure he's worth your worry?"

There was no response. Instead, Katie chewed thoughtfully on her toast.

Katie tried finding Cedric in between classes that day. She was sure he had just been a bit hot-headed the previous evening and would have rethought things a little since then. If only she could talk to him, and explain to him, it would all be okay. Unfortunately, he was nowhere to be found and she didn't even catch a glimpse of him at lunch. In Transfiguration at the end of the day, she couldn't concentrate on turning her rabbit into a bunny slipper. Half the time, she was thinking about Cedric, and the other half she was trading glimpses with the very attractive Ethan McClain, who sat just across the room. She was just considering how flighty she must have become as she stared at his handsome features when she felt a light touch on her shoulder. Horrified, she looked up into the scrutinizing gaze of Professor McGonagall.

"I would appreciate if you would focus less on Mr. McClain and more on the length of your—_slipper's_—legs," she said.

Katie suppressed the blush that tried to fight its way to her cheeks.

"Yes, ma'am," she replied glumly as she lower her eyes back to her desk and held down her wide-eyed bunny slipper as it fought to scramble off her desk with its two front feet. Professor McGonagall was right. Why should she be staring at Ethan? After all, she'd be back to flirting with Cedric in no time. It wasn't over between them. Just a misunderstanding. A little squabble, like any couple might have. They were just getting over the bumpy parts beforehand. He could still ask her to be his girlfriend, she'd forget all about Ethan, and life would go on as if it had never happened…right?

Katie's hopes were not as heartily supported by Alicia and Angelina as she had expected.

"I don't know, Kates," said Alicia that night in the Gryffindor common room. "He can be a gentlemen and all, but sometimes people find things very hard to forgive and forget."

"But I didn't do anything wrong!" Katie protested.

"She's right, Ali," Angelina confirmed.

"It's all Oliver's fault!" exclaimed Katie.

Angelina and Alicia exchanged a meaningful look.

"What?" their younger friend demanded, exasperated at being left out of the loop.

"Oliver does have some blame in this," Angelina started.

"But Katie, you can't be too hard on him, okay?" Alicia entreated. "He didn't know the harm he was causing."

"Well, he should've," interjected Katie stubbornly.

"Katie, Oliver doesn't think like the rest of us," her friend persisted.

"We all know that, Ali," came the retort.

"So, just... be sensible when you talk to him about it," Alicia continued as if she hadn't been interrupted.

Katie crossed her arms huffily. Alicia and Angelina had been so supportive since he had accused her of "consorting with the enemy" after the Hufflepuff game. Why did they now think that he didn't deserve to have the pulp pummeled out of him?

"Why are you protecting him?" she asked.

"We're not!" insisted Angelina, "We just… don't want things to be… you know… _awkward_."

"Why would they be awkward?" asked Katie, suppressing what she had convinced herself was righteous anger, "He's hurt me—twice now—and it's my right to either beat or shame an apology out of him!"

Glaring at her friends, she slammed her Astronomy book closed, and hefting it and her half-finished star chart into her arms, stomped off to her room. After flopping down onto her bed a few minutes later, she laid there, taking a couple deep breaths to calm down. Of course she had every right to badger Oliver for what he had done! Shaking her head, she finally returned to her homework. She attempted in vain to make sense of the chart, and remember what observation she had been working on. Was it Mars in Libra? Or Mercury?

After another half-hour of struggling with herself, and every so often beating her fists on her bedspread in frustration, she finally gave up and decided to turn in early. Though she tried to soothe her sprits as she prepared for bed, nothing she thought of could quell the cry of injustice that rang in her head. As she climbed into bed and pulled the curtains tight about it, she was convinced she would fall asleep as she had woken: thrashing with unpleasant thoughts. This, however, did not occur when she was greeted with a very welcome sight. As she pulled her mother's necklace out to toy with it, as she sometimes did when she was restless, she saw that it had begun again—though very faintly—to glow.

Under the watchful gaze of Professor McGonagall, Katie managed to restrain her curiosity with regards to the dashing Mr. McClain during the opening lesson of Transfiguration the next morning. She could not, however, restrain herself after the fourth year Gryffindors and Ravenclaws had descended into the dungeons for Potions class. Katie glanced longingly at the back and, occasionally, side of Ethan's head as she silently counted the number of stirs between each ingredient. It, however, almost caused her to add the porcupine quills before she was supposed to. After catching her misstep just in time, she decided it was better to concentrate on the lesson at hand and wait until later to let her revel in the recent feelings of butterflies in her stomach.

When it was time for lunch, the students packed away their potion kits and turned in vials of their brews at the front of the classroom for grading. Katie ignored Professor Snape's customary sneer as she placed a vial with contents of the correct color and texture on his desk. Then, after thoroughly wiping down her part of the bench, Katie joined Leanne and her other dormmates as they walked up from the dungeons to the Great Hall for lunch.

Katie, however, did not make it to their final destination. Just as they were exiting the main staircase into the Entrance Hall, she saw none other than Oliver Wood coming her way. When he caught her eye, she could have no doubt as to why he was preceding directly towards her. Katie at first marveled at his absolute lack of social skill. How was it that he had such impeccably horrible timing? Then she panicked. She couldn't talk to him. Not now, when she had railed against him the night before and had as much an urge to pound him as ever. With some quick excuse to Leanne that she had forgotten something in the Potions classroom, Katie doubled back towards the lower levels of the castle. As she did so, her mind raced. She couldn't go to the dungeons as she'd said because, first of all, he'd know exactly where to find her, and secondly, Snape would know full well that she hadn't forgotten anything and turn her away as soon as her poor excuse was heard. This being the case, she quickly turned into the first available corridor.

"Katie, wait!" she heard a voice call.

Glancing back to be sure she was out of Oliver's sight, she ran for it, turning into the next hallway without thinking of where she was going. It was a broad stone corridor, brightly lit with torches. Paintings of food lined the wall, as if reminding her that she was missing lunch to run from her Captain. Then, to her horror, she realized that the continuing corridor was merely an illusion created by a very well-done painting. She was at a dead end. Cursing the whimsical spirit of Hogwarts, she ran her hands over the picture, to see if it could offer help, but to no avail. She could hear approaching footsteps along the hallway leading to the one she was in. Knowing that she might be discovered at any minute, Katie turned around to look for inspiration. There was nothing near by but a painting of a gigantic silver bowl filled with fruit. She went to it immediately and began running her hands over it as well, hoping that something might be discovered of it. Her heart was pounding so loud, she wouldn't be surprised if Oliver knew exactly where she was from the sound of it.

"Please…please…" she whispered pleadingly.

Miraculously, as she ran her hands over the pear, it giggled and turned into a handle. Without thinking, she took the handle and pulled. The painting swung open to reveal a large room, which Katie stumbled into with such hurry that she lost her balance and fell to the flagged-stone floor. When she worriedly glanced back, she saw only the back of the painting. It had closed quickly, and without great noise. Once her heart stopped beating quite so loud and other noises made their way to her brain, she heard squeaks of all sorts and, upon looking forward once again, saw a score of little people with bat-like ears and round, wondering eyes crowded around her. Startled, she jumped to her feet.

"House-elves?" she asked out loud.

"Oh, yes, Miss!" squeaked one nearby.

"May we be of service, Miss?" squeaked another.

"What can we do for you, Miss?" asked yet another with a most polite bow.

"I…uh…" Katie tried to keep her head from spinning, "I just need a place to hide for a bit."

"Will you be needing anything else?"

"What is this place?" she asked, finally taking the time to look around.

"It is the kitchens, Miss," came the squeaked reply.

The room was almost as large as the Great Hall, though the ceilings were not quite so high. There was a great brick fireplace at one end in which roared a lively fire. Brass pots and pans were heaped on the walls, but even more were being toted about, mixed in, washed or being carried back and forth from the fire by the army of house-elves. There had to be over a hundred in the room. In the center were four large tables, identical to the four in the Great Hall above.

"Brilliant!" Katie said to no one in particular.

"Why thank you, Miss," said one of the elves who were still clustered around her.

"Are you sure there is nothing we can bring for you?"

Just then, Katie heard her stomach growl.

"Well, I guess a spot of lunch would be all right," she said sheepishly.

"Oh! Right away, Miss!" squeaked several elves, and they hurried about to their companions. Within moments, she was brought three plates full of piping hot food.

"Oh my!" Katie exclaimed when she saw how much food they brought her.

"Is anything not to the young miss' liking?" asked an elf, who peered at her with its huge blue eyes.

"Oh, no. Nothing's wrong!" she replied, remembering to be very polite to the elves, "It's just, there's so _much_ of it, it's very generous of you."

"Such praise, Miss!" squeaked the elf in reply, "Such very nice praise!"

All the elves who had helped bring her food over bowed or curtsied, then excused themselves as having to return to their work. She was quite content with being left alone to eat the excessive amount of food they had brought her, and sat down on the flagged-stone floor to help herself to it. They had brought her Cornish Pasties, sausages, carrots, roast potatoes, several fresh-baked rolls and a cup of steaming beef stew.

After she had devoured quite a bit, Katie saw a house-elf with particularly striking green eyes make its way towards her. It was dressed quite peculiarly in messy garments which looked to have been intended as real clothes. There was, however, one distinct piece of clothing: an old and dirty sock. This was odd, as Katie was aware that house-elves were freed when given articles of clothing. The other house-elves regarded this one peculiarly as well. She could see some shakes of heads and the like in its direction.

"Excuse me, Miss," it ventured.

"Yes?" she answered as kindly as she could around a mouthful of roll.

"You are in Gryffindor House, are you not?" it asked, pointing to her (messily tied) red-and-gold necktie.

"Yes," she answered after swallowing.

"Pardon me, but do you know kind, kind Harry Potter?" it asked with a gleam of hope in its eye.

"Only a little," she admitted.

"Oh," it responded, obviously quite disappointed. "Very well then, Miss. Is there anything else you might be needing?"

"As a matter of fact," she said as she stood up, "I've very much enjoyed the meal, but I do need to know the way out of here."

"Oh, right this way, Miss," replied the elf, leading her back to the picture frame.

A handful of elves came after her, pressing her to take some deserts. She helped herself to a cupcake and some cookies, while apologizing to the rest. Then, when she turned back, the house-elf had opened the painting again.

"Thank you," she said to the elves as she passed through.

"Come again, anytime, Miss!" they squeaked back as the painting swung quietly back to its original position. And, with a small clicking sound, Katie found herself once again in what appeared to be nothing but a simple corridor.

Later that night, Katie was to be found with the other fourth years were on top of the Astronomy Tower. Once the lesson began, and Professor Sinistra was making her way around to check on her student's progress, Rhea leaned over towards Katie and whispered to her, though not as quietly as the latter would have liked.

"So, find what you…_forgot_ in Potions today."

Katie was glad that she had the darkness of night to help conceal her blush.

"Yes," Katie said shortly, wishing she knew something else to say to shut Rhea up before she carried the innuendo to completion.

"You sure it didn't have anything to do with a certain…_seventh year_ we're acquainted with?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," she replied with a remarkably straight face.

"'Cause, you know, he was quite interested as to why you had to disappear so fast…" Rhea continued as if Katie had said nothing.

"Really?" Katie asked while attempting to make her interest and astonishment appear as fake as possible. She screwed up her features as she gazed with as much focus as she could muster though her brass telescope.

"Seemed quite twitchy when he came and asked us where you'd gone. It was almost amusing, actually," her friend admitted.

Katie was a bit perturbed by this, but chose to keep it to herself and mark the position of Polaris on her parchment.

"Really, Rhea," protested Leanne, "give her a break."

"It was quite funny to watch you run off so fast, too," admitted Rose. "You looked like your robes had caught fire."

Katie's blush deepened at this. Had she really been in so obvious a rush? She supposed she _had_ panicked a bit.

"You know," continued Rhea, "if I didn't know better, I'd say that he _fancies_ you."

"Rhea!" Leanne exclaimed.

Katie felt herself stiffen for just a moment. He couldn't really fancy her. Not _Oliver_, of all people. Not…honestly. Could he?

"Or that you fancy _him_!" giggled Chloe.

Katie shook her head. Now she knew they were just taking the mickey out of her.

"Whatever you say," she replied with indifference.

"So you really do?" asked Rhea while watching her friend attentively. She was rewarded only with a shrug.

"Oh, come on, Kates," pleaded Chloe. "We can see there's _obviously_ something going on between the two of you."

"I never knew you were so popular," mused Rose, "Going with Cedric to Hogsmeade on Halloween, and now playing with Oliver's feelings…"

"You really are getting around," Rhea agreed.

"Rhea, stop!" demanded Leanne.

"You're making me sound like a slut," Katie replied, finally turning away form her telescope to stare down Rhea and her two sidekicks.

"Relax, it's all in good fun," Rose answered, though her voice wavered a little.

"You there!" called Professor Sinistra, "Lesson cutting in with your little conversation, is it?"

"No, ma'am," Leanne reassured her sweetly.

"Then quit the chatter and turn those eyes skyward!" she ordered.

Katie bore the sniggers of their classmates with indifference, but took a few deep breaths just to clam herself. But it was to no avail. Like every time the last couple days that her mind had been on the subject of Cedric, it raced with possibilities, guesses, conjectures, and guarded hopes. But, now that she examined it again, was she sure that she really fancied him? After all, she'd been doing quite a lot of gazing at Ethan lately. And he wasn't the only other attractive male in the school, either. It was such a blessing and a curse to be surrounded by many handsome boys for months on end. She was sure if she looked around in her other classes a bit she might find… but no. She couldn't think about that. Didn't she feel things for Cedric? Hadn't he been the first one to have opened her eyes to love? The first one to make her dream of having a boyfriend? What hadn't he done but please her? And hadn't she blushed near him more than around anyone else? But if she did care for him, as she was so desperately trying to convince herself, had she felt nothing when they had been so close in the broom shed? Why hadn't she just turned around to be clasped in his arms? But would he have clasped her? They had flirted a bit, to be sure. But was that him really showing interest, or just appreciating her company? Had he cared for her? Did he still? Did he _really_ think that she and Oliver…? Surely he had come to his senses by now. It was thought of this kind that kept Katie's mind occupied as the chilly autumn night passed while she gazed out from the Astronomy Tower.

Luckily for Katie, her mind's misery would soon be at an end. After their class had exited the tower and divided up to return to their respective Houses, she was passing along the eighth floor with her fellow Gryffindors when, in the corridor ahead, stood a tall, lone figure. As they came closer, there was a hushed sort of whisper amongst the group as they took into account the yellow and black accents of his school uniform. With a smile, though one not so warm as Katie had remembered or anticipated, she saw it was indeed Cedric Diggory.

"Katie," he started in a hushed voice, "could I have word with you."

"Sure," she said, trying to sound as calm as possible, though her heart seemed to be beating in her throat.

The Gryffindor boys were already half-way to the staircase that would lead them to the portrait of the Fat Lady. What did they care of the romantic intrigues of others? The girls, however, stood like a whole herd of deer caught in the headlights.

"Go on," Katie said encouragingly, though wishing with every fiber of her being that they would just Disapparate before her eyes, "I'll be right behind you."

When they refused to budge, eyes wide and staring at the pair of them, Katie was reminded of the house-elves she had stumbled upon earlier that very day.

"I do know my way back, you know," she continued, determined to break the most awkward of silences.

This bit of humor broke Leanne from her reverie, and she slowly managed to tug and prod the others into moving along as well. Katie gave her a very nervous smile, though the look in her eyes told her friend that she was thankful beyond words.

Leanne replied with a barely noticeable nod and a quick "Later, then."

Katie and Cedric watched the Gryffindor fourth years make their way down the corridor almost until they had reached the staircase. It was he who first broke the silence.

"So…uh…how've you been?" he asked.

"Alright," she answered, surprised that there was actually sound coming out of her mouth. She screwed up her Gryffindor courage and looked him in his dazzling grey eyes to see his response as she added, "I've been better."

There was pain in his eyes, and she noticed it, with just a hint of sadistic joy rising from it. She knew that pain. It was the same reason why she had silently cried herself to sleep the night he stormed away from her.

"I'm—I'm sorry to hear that," he solemnly replied, tearing his eyes away form hers.

There it was again: that terrible, uncomfortable silence. This time it was broken by Katie.

"So, what's on your mind?" she asked as casually as she could.

"I've been thinking about us," he responded earnestly, his grey eyes once again meeting her own.

"You're not in Divination, are you?" she blurted out.

"No. Muggle Studies, Arithmancy, Ancient Runes and Care of Magical Creatures, but not Divination. Why?"

Katie's mouth nearly dropped. How could he be taking all of those classes? Plus the regular ones like Potions, Herbology and Transfiguration! But she was brought back to her senses by his quizzical (not to mention adorable) look.

"It's just that, well, Leanne is in Divination and Trelawny's been saying that the recent convergence of Mars and Venus…Nevermind"

"You're quite funny, you know," said Cedric.

He began to reach out his hand to her, but then withdrew it.

"I…um…I'll miss that about you," he said with no lack of grief in his normally calm, steady voice.

"What?"

Katie was taken aback. What was happening?

"I've decided I can't really see you anymore," he explained. "I've been doing some thinking, since we… since…"

"Since I yelled at you?" Katie volunteered dejectedly, looking down at her feet in shame.

He finally let himself touch her by putting a hand on her shoulder and giving it an encouraging squeeze.

"Don't beat yourself up about it, Kates."

"Kates?" she repeated as if she'd never heard the word.

"Yes. Kates. Isn't that what your friends call you?"

"Yeah, but…"

"So, anyway. It's not because you yelled at me. Well, not really. I just got to thinking and, to be honest, I have a lot going on right now: starting NEWT classes and my first year as Captain of the Hufflepuff side…and, well, I came to realize that I've been really on edge recently. That's why I got so suspicious of you and Oliver right away. And I don't really have much free time or anything. I like you. I really do. But I just can't justify to myself being with a great girl like you right now when I can't give you half what you deserve."

This declaration was so astounding that Katie stood frozen for a moment, simply shell-shocked. All the pieces fit together now. He really had liked her! But, just as this realization elated her, she once again was brought crashing back to Earth when she realized it could never be.

"Cedric…I…" she began with in a shaky voice she hardly recognized was her own, "I really don't know what to say."

"I know it's a lot," he admitted. "Here, there's a window sill you can sit on if you need to. Right over here."

With this, he gently led her over to a nearby window sunk deep into the castle wall so as to create a little alcove. Katie hoisted herself up a bit then perched herself on the sill. Cedric remained on the ground. Meanwhile, this gave Katie time to think. This might have been for the better. After all, her mind was already off chasing other boys half the time. Maybe it was right that they go their separate ways. But, on the other hand, as she looked back at all the wonderful times they had shared together—the walk by the lake, the trip to Hogsmeade, and (dare she include it) the incident that started it all on the Hogwarts Express—she realized that she really would miss him. Tears welled up in her eyes, though she refused for them to spill.

"I'm sorry, Katie," he said in his deep, soothing voice. "I'm sorry for the pain I'm causing you, and for the pain that is to come, but I wouldn't want to continue on and upset you later, either."

"How can you be sure," she asked as her voice became more unreliable than ever, and she looked away in shame of being in such a state, "that it wouldn't work?"

Cedric guided her face back towards his.

"Listen to what your heart tells you, Katie."

She sniffled and a single tear dripped down her cheek. She nodded. She understood, though it hurt. He was too much an honorable Hufflepuff to be wrong. If he knew he couldn't be happy, there was no way for them to succeed. He had done the best thing by trying to let her down easily, in a straightforward heart-to-heart, as much as it pained her to admit it.

"You know," she said after a long pause, "it's true."

"What's true?" he asked kindly.

"What I told you on the train."

"What's that?" he asked with a faint smile.

"That you're a real gentleman."

At this, Cedric seemed to loose some of his composure as well.

"Thank you, Katie," he said with a sad, yet grateful smile, "That's the biggest compliment I could ask for."

Katie couldn't bear his smile any longer. She buried her face in the shoulder of his robes, silently struggling to hold back her sobs and her tears. She sat there a long time, until Cedric at last suggested that they should return to their respective Houses before they were caught for being out of bed past the strict curfew that had been set since the haunting episode on Halloween. She hopped gingerly down from the window sill.

As they were about to part, Katie warmly embraced Cedric with a tight hug.

"Thank you, Cedric," she whispered.

"No, thank _you_, Katie," he responded with a whisper as he returned her hug. "Thank you for having the heart of a lion."


	10. A Lousy Practice

Katie's mood the next day was solemn. When she first entered the Great Hall and took her place beside Angelina and Alicia, they took her utterly downcast look to mean that there had been a death in the family. Katie shook her head at this. She hated to think that she might have preferred a death in the family to the pain she was feeling now.

Katie quietly pleaded her friends to join her in a less public place. She told them what had passed between her and Cedric the night before. The news was received in awed silence. After exchanging worried glances, and pestering Katie to take a slice of toast and a few of bacon, they followed her out of the Great Hall and up towards the deserted Charms corridor. Once she was sure they had complete privacy, Katie blurted out the whole story as fast as she could. Words and sentences blurred together and her friends had to make her stop and take some deep breaths before she could start again. Katie thanked her lucky stars that she was able to make it through the story without breaking down crying, though one tear ran down her cheek as she ended it.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, Katie," said Alicia as she warmly embraced her friend, "I had no idea it would be like this."

"What a way to end it all," Angelina mused, as she clasped a hand on Katie's shoulder.

"I don't think there's much we can do to make it better for you," Alicia told Katie as she released her from the hug, "but let us know if you need anything, okay?"

Katie responded by nodding gravely.

"Cheer up, Kates," Angelina told her. "Everything is going to be alright, you know that."

"Yeah, I know it," Katie replied as glumly as ever.

"Hey, do you need one of my famous cheering charms?" Angelina asked jokingly.

Angelina's "famous" cheering charms had very little to be cheerful about. They were, in fact, rather infamous. Katie had once been present when Alicia had been helping Angelina practice. Alicia hadn't thought it safe to practice it on humans yet, and Weasley twins had managed to procure a live chicken as a substitute. On the fourth try, Angelina somehow managed to strip the poor animal of all its feathers. She had rarely performed the spell since.

"No, I think I'll be alright," responded Katie, unable to suppress a smile at the memory of the naked chicken stalking its way around the Gryffindor common room.

"That's better," Angelina said on seeing her smile.

Alicia looked at her watch.

"We'd better be off if we want to be on time for Herbology," she said. "I'm really sorry, Kates."

"It's okay," Katie assured her much more confidently than she felt. She even managed a small smile.

Angelina gave her friend an encouraging squeeze on the shoulder, and Alicia threw her another apologetic look before the two started off down the corridor and disappeared down the nearest staircase. Katie looked down at the scraps of breakfast that she had nicked from the tables, but felt no pang of hunger. Frustrated, she chucked them into a nearby alcove that contained a marble bust of Balfour Bane. Just then, Mrs. Norris, the shaggy, dust-coloured cat belonging to the caretaker, Mr. Filch, appeared seemingly out of thin air. She stared at Katie with her yellow, lamp-like eyes, as if she would very much like to reprimand Katie for littering in the hallway.

"Bugger off," Katie snapped at the cat, who kept her eerie, unblinking stare fixed on her.

After a pause, Mrs. Norris finally decided that there must be other students elsewhere doing things more heinous than littering. With one last haughty look, she turned around and slinked off. Almost as soon as Mrs. Norris' scruffy tail disappeared around the nearest corner, dwarfish Professor Flitwick arrived to unlock his classroom.

"Oh, Miss Bell!" he squeaked, "How surprising to see you this early."

Katie smiled kindly.

"Just wanted to get a good start to the day," she said.

Katie responded with smiles and pleasant answers to Flitwick's small talk. She took a seat in the corner and took out a roll of parchment and quill in order to give her an excuse to avoid the eyes of her classmates when they showed up. Before too long, other students started to appear. Fortunately, her roommates were some of the last to arrive.

The fourth year Gryffindor girls took their places just as Professor Flitwick began to call for attention. Leanne sat next to Katie, as was her usual, and sent Katie a worried look. Leanne hadn't seen her friend since she had left her and Cedric together in the corridor the previous night. Katie had come back after she had gone to bed, and a restless night had forced her up at an early hour to wander the cold, deserted castle passageways, wading through thought and emotion to confront the situation at hand. Leanne had noticed Katie's empty bed with worried suspicion and her hypothesis was proven correct when she examined Katie's features. The previous night's activities were evident in Katie's face: her eyes were bloodshot and slightly puffy and she could only manage a very taut smile in greeting. Now, however, was not the time to be inquiring after Katie's health. Flitwick had already begun the lesson by starting to explain the theory behind Summoning Charms.

Once the room was full of objects flying through the air (or, at least, feebly flopping off a shelf), Katie and Leanne had more time, and privacy, to talk. After relaying the story, Katie felt just a bit better to know that all her closest friends now knew. Leanne was even more dumbstruck than Angelina and Alicia, and almost as effusive with support. Katie shrugged it all off, trying to be as casual and discreet as possible about the whole affair. After a few minutes of this, however, the two of them began to draw furtively curious looks from their roommates. Katie knew they probably gathered the topic of conversation, but still loathed for them to be let in on the truth. She could just imagine Rhea gloating that Katie was nothing more than a flavor of the week for someone like Cedric.

Throughout the rest of the class, Katie could tell that Leanne thought it best to tell the other girls, but was prudent enough not to bring it up. Katie, meanwhile, was silently enjoying watching Rhea writhe with curiosity, but eventually tired of her yearmate's purposely obnoxious hints. As the class was packing their things back into their bags, Katie leaned over to Leanne.

"Tell them," she instructed her friend, "but wait until I've left. I don't want to be stared at."

Leanne looked at her and nodded. Katie closed her bag and walked out, straight past the girls who were staring her down with such intensity. She purposely put a spring into her step to throw them off, and felt their eyes on her back the whole way out.

Katie made her way down to a secluded little courtyard to spend her morning break in much-desired solitude. She walked over to the old oak tree which stood in a corner and leaned against its trunk. The chill November air bit at her cheeks. She pulled her red and gold Gryffindor scarf up a little higher, and returned to her thoughts. The news would spread like wildfire, as any good secret should at Hogwarts. But at least, Katie thought, it would bring closure. There was something rather final about the whole affair being declared over by nigh half the student body. Cedric's loyal followers would be pleased that a substandard fourth year like herself was out of their way. Best of all, after the initial fascination with this "scandalous" development, interest would quickly disappear to focus on some other tidbit and Katie would be once again left alone. She could move on, wiser and stronger, and that was all she could ask for.

The fallout was pretty much what Katie had expected: plenty of girls whispering in to each other as they passed in the corridors, and many sixth and seventh year boys sizing her up and possibly wondering what about her had drawn the attention of Cedric, who could have his pick of all of Hogwarts' upper-year girls. Seemingly the only upperclassmen who refrained from this activity were Percy and Oliver, though this gallantry more likely rose from ignorance than anything else. Yet, Katie's stay in the limelight was shorter-lived than even she had hoped. Apparently, the student body cared more about Marion Scott being seen kissing Roger Davies in the hallway. Katie couldn't have been more thankful. And, in all the kerfuffle, she had completely forgotten about her tactless flight from Oliver Wood earlier in the week. However, when Katie realized that she had Quidditch practice on Saturday, she thought about skiving, despite the pact she had made with her friends. The only thing that made her go was the thought of hiccupping frogs courtesy of the Weasley twins, a service which they would be more than happy to provide if she didn't show. Thankfully, when she got to the Quidditch pitch on Saturday, only Angelina and Alicia were in the locker rooms. Already dressed in her Quidditch pants and sweater, Katie began putting on her leather Quidditch shoes. Harry appeared as she was moving on to her gloves and wrist guards.

She was just strapping on her shin pads when Oliver finally burst into the room. All four of them looked up.

"Sorry, I'm late," he said, looking quite flushed," I was… was… Where's Fred and George?"

The whole team looked at the twins' lockers with alarm. Their contents were untouched.

"Harry, can you check for their brooms?" Oliver asked.

"Sure," the Seeker answered and quickly dashed out the door.

Oliver cursed the twins with words that made the three girls look amongst themselves with raised eyebrows. He flung his locker open with slightly more force than was necessary and began yanking his equipment out just as fiercely. Harry came back a few moments later.

"Well?" Oliver demanded.

"Still there," Harry responded, though trying to break the news as gently as he could. Katie didn't blame him.

"WHAT?" Wood exploded.

"Well, they're still…"

"Yes, I get it," snapped Wood. When he saw Harry about to answer back indignantly, he quickly finished with, "Thank you, Harry."

Harry looked moderately appeased, but Wood went back to tearing through his locker.

"This was the worst possible practice for them to miss! I was going to work on Bludger evasion techniques. We need to practice up now if we're to be ready for Slytherin at the end of the season. I won't have anymore broken bones like last year. Oh, I'm going to stuff them next time I see them! Skiving off practice, indeed…"

The team didn't catch what came after, as Wood nervously began to mutter to himself as he dressed in his padding, often stopping to flip through his well-loved playbook and nod or shake his head while muttering a quick comment. When he was half-dressed, he finally looked up to notice the other four players standing nervously around, afraid to make any move that might provoke their Captain's temper.

"Oh, um, go fly a few warm-up laps, will you?" Oliver asked. "I'll be right behind you."

Angelina, Alicia, Katie and Harry followed without question. Walking out onto the pitch, they all mounted and kicked off in an almost synchronized fashion. Harry soared on his Nimbus 2000 up towards the clouds, while the three Chasers remained in loose formation as they curled around the hoops, occasionally weaving in and out. Just as all of them were getting bored, Oliver appeared from the locker rooms and kicked off to join them in the air. Blowing on his whistle, he called them all to the center. They were surprised to see that he carried a Beater's bat.

Oliver cleared his throat and Katie noticed he was looking a bit pale and clammy.

"Alright. We can't let the Weasleys hold us up. We're decent at swerving away, but with Beaters like Derrick and Bole, sometimes the Bludger will be coming at you too fast for you to have time to turn, so, we need to practice rolls. I'll only teach you side rolls for now, but maybe we'll get to Sloth-Grip later in the season. Now, the key to rolling is to keep as close to the handle as possible so you can right yourself as soon as it goes by. You wouldn't believe how hard it is to score upside down…"

After explaining the theory and watching them practice a few times, Oliver descended back to the ground to let a Bludger loose. Katie swore she could see his hands shake as he went to open the case. The hard black ball soared into the air and headed straight for Harry, who nimbly dodged it with a half-twirl, half-roll. They all took their turn at practicing the new move. Katie was initially intimidated by the whoosh of the Bludger passing so close to her, but soon learned to judge how far it actually was from her critical body parts. Alicia only rolled a few times. She seemed much more comfortable with the traditional swerve or the occasional loop-the-loop. On the other hand, Harry looked, once again, to be a natural. Oliver soared after it and did his best to keep the Bludger's speed under control. Yet, as the practice drew on, Katie could see that Wood winced every time he swung the bat. Finally, he missed the Bludger completely and Alicia ducked just in time to save her head from being smashed in from the side.

"Angelina, can you get it?" Oliver called.

Angelina nodded and intercepted the hurling black orb as it hurdled towards Harry again, then threw herself and it a few feet down to the ground, where she struggled to keep it trapped beneath her chest. Alicia flew over with the crate and helped her friend to strap it back into the dip specially formed for it. Meanwhile, Harry descended and nimbly hopped off his broom, light as a feather. Oliver, however, landed on Earth like a bag of bricks.

"Good practice, everyone," he said with forced cheerfulness.

Harry rushed over and spoke to Wood, who nodded.

"Can you toss up the Snitch?" Harry called over to the Chasers.

Katie, who had walked over to help her friends, took the small, golden ball from its pocket in the trunk top. She marveled briefly at the feel of the cool gold metal, and at the intricate etchings that covered it. Then, she drew her arm back, imagined the goal hoops straight in front of her, and flung the Snitch high into the sky.

"Thanks!" Harry said, as he mounted and kicked off.

Katie marveled at his speed and agility for a few moments before turning and hurrying after her friends, who were carrying the trunk back toward the broomshed.

"Katie!" Oliver called.

She looked over to see him gesturing to join him by the locker rooms. After exchanging confused glances with Angelina and Alicia, she reluctantly jogged over to him. Oliver gave her a tired smile as she approached.

"How are you feeling?" she asked, determined to take control of the conversation and avoid that topic which she was most dreading.

"Drained," he admitted. "I never realized how much work it is to swing these bats."

"Gives you a new respect for the Weasleys, huh?"

"I'd have more respect for them if they'd have showed up," he responded glumly.

Katie started to respond with "Well…" but was overridden by Oliver's "Anyway…"

They stopped and looked at each other. Katie cringed inwardly. She knew he was going ask why she had behaved so oddly, why she had run away from him, what she was hiding.

"I remember saying something about how Cedric was just using you," he began.

Katie clenched her jaw, unwilling to dignify him with an answer. So he had heard the recent gossip and he wanted to pity her a little for having been "toyed with" by Cedric. It was the last thing she wanted, but there was no doubt in her mind that he would want to rub it in that he had been right all along, that Cedric had only used her until their respective teams had played.

"…and I just want to say I'm sorry." Oliver finished, stopping Katie in her tracks

Katie turned and stared at him.

"I was blinded by my own ambition. I really wanted the Cup. Well, I _still_ want it… I dreamed about it all summer. And, well, after you promised me we'd win it, I guess I felt betrayed when I found out about you two. I thought that the only way we could have lost was through betrayal. I never considered dumb bad luck. I thought it was all about skill and planning and that treachery was the only thing that could overcome those. But I know better now."

Katie responded only by blinking. Her mind was racing to absorb everything he was saying. He didn't blame her anymore! He had finally realized what a prat he'd been. She wanted to rejoice, but at the same time, he couldn't make up for the melancholy she had experienced since the Hufflepuff match.

"I hope you accept my apology," he finished, his brown eyes innocently gazing at her like a young puppy's.

Katie didn't know how, but by some miracle she was finally able to move.

"I accept your apology," she responded curtly.

"Good," he said, a small smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

"Good," she repeated, stone-faced.

They looked at each other for a moment before Oliver, looking slightly disappointed at her reticent response, turned around and began walking towards the locker rooms.

"Oliver," Katie called.

"Yeah?" he asked, turning back.

She took a few steps to be closer to him, and spoke in a cool voice.

"Just know that, sometimes, I need a friend more than I need a Captain."

Oliver looked taken aback. His smile was replaced by a look of shock and then embarrassment, but the change was most visible in his eyes. Were once they were eager and vulnerable, they were now replaced by an impenetrable, stony composure.

"I see," he said, and with a brief nod of his head, he turned and continued on to the locker rooms.

Katie waited for Angelina and Alicia, but would only provide vague, offhanded answers when asked what the two of them had discussed. When they finally arrived at their lockers, Oliver had already gone.

Try as they might, it took Angelina and Alicia an entire day to finally coax the truth out of Katie. When they did, they were shocked. More by her cool retort than by his apology, but Katie stuck by her words.

"You said yourself that he was being a prat about the whole thing," she said defensively the next evening as they sat in their favorite corner of the Gryffindor common room.

"Yeah, but I didn't expect you to bite his head off about it!" Alicia responded

"I didn't!"

"Ladies!" Angelina interrupted. "I've been hearing this since dinner and it's giving me a headache. Can we _please_ talk about something else?

"Like what?" Katie asked.

"Like Fred?" Alicia suggested.

"Ali…" Angelina hissed in a warning tone.

"About him _missing practice_?" Alicia prodded.

"Oh, yeah…"

"What about it?" Katie asked. "Because they made it horrible for all of us because Wood could hardly control a Bludger if his life depended on it?"

"It did make practice more horrid than usual," Angelina agreed

"That's not what I'm getting at," said Alicia.

"Then what are you on about?" Angelina wanted to know.

"This," Alicia responded, taking a piece of parchment out of her bag.

Some familiar lines were scribbled on the parchment:

_We, Alicia Spinnet, Angelina Johnson, Fred and George Weasley and Katie Bell (with Lee Jordan as witness) solemnly swear_…

"The pact!" Katie breathed.

At the bottom, two names were alternating between their original black ink and a flaming red color.

"Cool!" Angelina said as she watched "Fred Weasley" and "George Weasley" turn a bright crimson.

"How'd you do that?" Katie asked.

"A small modification of the _Flagrate_ charm," Alicia answered casually. "Anyway, as you can see, the pact stipulates that it's up to us to come up with a… where is it?... ah, yes… 'suitable punishment.'"

"Oh, those two!" said Angelina. "I'd like to stuff them! They knew they'd shirk off practice and that's why they wanted to leave the punishments up to the rest of us. Scheming little…"

"That's enough, Angie," Alicia gently interrupted.

"So what are we going to do about it?" Katie asked.

"We're going to get them, and get them good," Angelina said with a malicious glint in her eyes.

"But how?" Katie asked. "They can spot a prank a mile away, especially if we try to use their own tricks against them. They practically wrote the book!"

"They aren't they wizards who've enjoyed a good joke," Alicia answered, "I just _happen_ to have come across a book in the library, a place I _know_ they don't go…"

She pulled out a very ancient-looking book and placed it on the wooden table. Katie read the gold-stamped title: _Charme Without Harme: A Guide to the Moste Popular Jests._

"Brilliant!" said Angelina.

"As you can see, it's quite old. Fred and George have done their research will have researched all the pranks from the last few generations, but nothing this far back."

"Have you found anything really good?" Katie asked.

"There's an ancient charm in here, called the Antler Charm. Supposedly, it'll create antlers that would make a moose jealous."

Katie laughed out loud and even Alicia couldn't help an impish grin spreading across her features.

"Knew I could always count on you, Ali," Angelina said as she slapped her on the back hard enough that Alicia coughed. "Oh, sorry."

"When are you going to do it?" Katie asked.

"Friday or Saturday," Alicia answered. "Wouldn't want to give them an excuse to miss school, now would I?"

Angelina shook her head in disbelief. "You've thought everything out, haven't you?"

"More or less."

While the three soon had to return to their studies, when one would start chuckling, the other two couldn't help but join in.

All of Monday, Katie had a new spring in her step. There was not a dull moment, even in History of Magic, for her brain kept running the same ridiculous images through her mind: Fred and George capped with huge antlers, getting stuck all throughout the castle, or capsizing with their weight. It was a very diverting pastime and Katie was sure any bogarts within a twenty foot radius would be instantly banished from the continuous smiles and spontaneous laughter that kept up throughout the day.

However, not everything was fun and games. Most unfortunately, Oliver managed to pass her as she walked back towards the castle from her final lesson in one of the greenhouses. Katie tried to loose herself in the crowd of fourth years, but in vain.

"Hey, Katie!" Oliver called.

Katie rolled her eyes so Leanne could see. Her friend gave her a sympathetic look, but nudged her towards Wood nonetheless.

"Just see what he wants," she said in a low voice.

"Yeah?" Katie asked as she approached Oliver.

"I, uh, just wanted to say that I've thought about what you said yesterday and that you're right," Oliver said. He paused, but when it was obvious he would not receive a reply, he continued on awkwardly, "And I'll try to do better."

"I'm glad," Katie replied, trying to hide most of the sarcasm in the statement. Surely he hadn't called her over for this?

"Good," Wood said, looking quite pleased.

"Okay," came her short response. She wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of her conversation.

There was an awkward pause as Katie eyed Oliver, daring for him to continue, as he shifted his weight from foot to foot. Finally, he found another topic of conversation:

"So, coming from Herbology?" he asked pleasantly.

Katie nodded. "Yep."

"What are you working on?"

"Porcumoss," Katie replied.

"How's that going?"

She held up her hand, recently gashed by the long, spiny needles of the plant.

"I see," Oliver said, now looking guilty for having brought up the subject. "You know, some pickled murtlap might help clear that up."

"Thanks," Katie responded without being completely sincere. Where in the world was she supposed to stumble on murtlaps? She was pretty sure they didn't live around the lake, as they would probably be a favorite snack food of the giant squid. What was Oliver trying to do? Why was he talking to her anyway? All she knew was that she wanted the conversation to end, so she added, "I'd better get back to the castle."

"Right," Wood responded. "I was just… off to the pitch, you know."

"See you, then," she said dismissively and, without waiting for an answer, walked away.

"What did that _mean_?" Katie exclaimed that night after she'd finished relating the story to her friends.

"Sounds like he's really sorry," Angelina mused.

"Yeah," Alicia agreed. "I mean… offering you advice about Herbology and all…it's like he wants to make something up to you."

"He doesn't need to make anything up to me!" Katie protested. "He can't take back what he did. What's done is done and I just want to move on!"

But Katie, once again, could not have her way when it came to Oliver Wood. The very next day, the two of them met in the charms corridor, as Katie and Leanne were animatedly talking on their way to the day's final class. Leanne was about to walk away, but Katie surreptitiously locked onto her arm and prevented her from doing so. If things got awkward like they had the day before, she was determined to use her friend as an excuse to leave.

"Katie," he started, nervously looking over her friend.

"Yes, Oliver?" she asked politely.

With another hesitant glance at Leanne, Oliver finally blurted out: "Are you going to the match with anyone?"

"What?" Katie exclaimed, blown away by this turn in conversation.

"The quidditch match this Saturday. Ravenclaw versus Slytherin. I thought we might go together, you know, pick apart their tactics, see what needs doing. So, you want to go?" he asked

"Sure," Katie replied without thinking.

"Good. Well, I'll see you around, then," he finished and started to walk away, but turned before he got too far. "Almost forgot," he said with a smile, "not as good as pickled murtlap, but it'll do."

With that, he flipped a small, corked bottle at her, before continuing briskly down the corridor. Katie, grabbed the bottle in midair and looked at it. It contained a pale yellow, aromatic liquid and was labeled: "oregano oil – for minor cuts and burns." For a few moments, Katie could command her body to do nothing but stare after his receding figure in absolute astonishment.

"Katie, are you okay?" Leanne inquired after her friend hadn't moved for several moments.

"Yeah," Katie responded. "What just happened?"

"Well, he asked you to go to the match with him, then he tossed you that."

"Go to the match? Like a date?"

"I don't think so. He talked about some Quidditch strategy stuff I didn't quite catch."

"And did I say yes?" Katie asked worriedly, finally tearing her eyes away from Oliver's back to stare at her companion with frantic urgency.

"I think you did."

Katie cursed foully enough that Leanne stepped back.

"Is there something going on here that I should know about?" she asked, but Katie was already half-way down the hall.


End file.
